


The name's Lance

by Madame_Klancealot



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - School, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Boys In Love, Boys Kissing, Cuban Lance (Voltron), Delinquent, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Falling In Love, Friends to Lovers, Homecoming, Keith/Lance (Voltron) Angst, M/M, Pining Keith (Voltron), Prom, Protective Shiro (Voltron), Slow Burn Keith/Lance (Voltron), Socially Awkward Keith (Voltron), Tutoring
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-10
Updated: 2019-10-14
Packaged: 2019-11-15 04:18:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 69
Words: 195,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18066449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Madame_Klancealot/pseuds/Madame_Klancealot
Summary: Keith is the principal's son, the golden boy, the class pet, hardly has a social life and does everything he can to get the best grades so that he can get into his dream college. All that goes down the drain when he's assigned to tutor the school's new delinquent, Lance McClain.*Super slow burn*





	1. Annoyance

**Author's Note:**

> I. Need. To. Stop. 
> 
> Seriously, these new stories pop into my head all the time and I need to write them down. If this gets a positive response, I'll continue the story. 
> 
> Let me know what you think.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance turns Keith into a troublemaker ~

"Not this guy again." I groaned quietly, trying to hide behind my book in a classroom full of chattering students before first period starts. 

 

We had a new kid start at our school last week and already he’s made a name for himself. No wonder though, he was the school’s new delinquent, and took the title with a proud demeanor wherever he walked the hallways. 

 

The funny thing about this guy was that we had every single period together so I couldn’t shake him off except for recess or lunch. Today he waltzed in like he owned the place, but that was no surprise. My eyes went back to my book until he spoke up catching my dark stare. 

 

"Woah, woah, woah _mamacitas_ , there’s enough of me to go around. How about a little kiss on the cheek, chica?" I hear him cat calling the girls in class, but they didn’t mind. Whenever he opened his mouth the girls would swoon for him, no matter what came out of it. 

 

I felt a heat bubble in my stomach when Lacey, our class representative of all people melted into that guy’s hold, giving him a loving peck on the cheek. The nerve of that guy. I went back to my book ignoring the douche. 

 

"Mr. McClain, please take your seat, class has started." Miss Allura said when she pooled into the classroom wearing her usual stubborn look whenever new guy felt like taking over the class.

 

"Anything for you, Allura." New guy smooth talked, but was iced when Miss Allura shot him a cold look, nodding her brows to his seat. He did as demanded but shot me a snide smirk my way before sitting in his seat all lazily. 

 

_Just ignore him_ , I thought. Closing my book to pay attention to Miss Allura's class. 

 

This was senior year. My most important year of high school. Sure, I've easily made straight As the past three years, but they didn’t matter to me. Senior year was always the year that counted. It was the year I needed to do my best in every subject and with my college applications. I really wanted to get into this high prestigious college on the west coast that offered an amazing arts course, but I practiaclly needed all As on my report card, a letter of recommendation and something to impress them with to receive the scholarship that only two out of hundreds of applicants got. I needed this year to focus heavily on my school work or else Shiro would be disappointed. _I_ would be disappointed. 

 

I felt a tap on my shoulder. "Hey, poindexter. What’s Miss hot stuff’s deal?" New guy asked me, his smile turning my insides frozen. 

 

"I don’t know, we call her Miss so I bet she’s single. Not that you would have a chance." I chided back. 

 

"Kogane! McClain! Don’t make me write you up." Miss Allura shouted our way. 

 

She gave both of us a hard stare before returning to the board. Her cold stare could rip any one's skin off. But it looked like new guy was just enjoying it, crossing his arms, sitting with his ass almost sliding off his chair. Man, he needed to learn some proper mannerisms. 

 

While Miss Allura wrote on the board, I took the chance to look at my college applications. I had three alternatives that I didn’t mind getting in if my dream school got cut. I filled out all three application but could feel my nerves getting to me. I didn’t like writing essays that centered on my private life. Too much had happened in my past that writing an essay about it would just hurt too much. I didn’t feel inspired by much, except for nature and machinery. But who would want to read an essay about a kid who felt inspired by that? 

 

I felt another tap on my shoulder. "Knock it off, McClain." I spat his name, like a bad taste in my mouth. "Pay attention to the board before she whacks you." I waved his hand off, not directing my gaze at him. I didn’t want anything to do with this kid, he would ruin everything for me if I let him socialize with me. 

 

He didn’t listen to me and continued tapping me shoulder, turning the tapping into a full on clap with his whole hand. "KNOCK IT OFF!" I yelled loudly for the whole class to hear, forgetting we were in the middle of a class. 

 

"That’s it! Both of you, detention." Miss Allura had two slips at the ready on her desk giving them to us when the first period bell rang. 

 

"God dammit…this is all your fault." I glared at new guy, but he was only smiling. 

 

My eyes traced his figure. He was tall, wiry almost like a tree, he had a tan complexion, my money was he was from Mexico or Cuba. His eyes had a light blue color but I could see splashes of green in them making it look like the ocean. His chestnut colored hair was short, but curling at the nape of his neck. What always caught my eyes in class, since he was impossible to ignore, was his mouth. Whenever he felt cocky enough, he would smile that ridiculous grin of his, all of his teeth showing but it was impossible to look away whenever he smiled. 

 

The funny thing was, he didn’t even look like a delinquent. He didn’t have any tattoos or face piercings. But he did dress like one. He always wore ripped jeans, tattered shirts with t-shirts underneath always having some sort of rock band on it. His kicks were black Doc Martens, and he smoked. Looking away from his clothing appearance, he would just seem like any other guy. Someone who could seem nice, until he opened his mouth. 

 

"Lighten up, Kogane. You need to show some of your rebellious side, you’re such a…what’s the word? Oh yeah, such a pet. I mean look at you, you're wearing a white shirt under a red sweater, only nerds dress this way. Like where's your calculator?" He sneered, happy with his little jokes. His grin was still plastered to his face, and I couldn’t look away. I just stood there hoping the bell would ring, but we had the same classes every day so I knew I couldn’t shake him off. 

 

"Lighten up!? Lighten....up!?" I face-palmed in front of him, clearing my thick bangs away in frustration. "This is going to be on my record! I’ve never had detention before…Fuck...Shiro’s going to kill me." I groaned, pushing new guy into a locker while making my way to the next class. 

 

"Hey....Hey Poindexter! Where do you think you’re going?" New guy shouted behind me, following in step with me into the classroom. 

 

I turned around with a brute force, my eyebrows furrowed angrily at him. "Listen here, McClain." A pale finger was pointed beneath his chin. He looked down at the tip of my finger, blue-green eyes twinkling with michief before his gaze tipped up to mine. "Don’t talk to me, don’t look at me and don’t just be around me. I want nothing...nothing to do with you, McClain.» I spat his name, or tried to at least, but felt my voice wimping out on the tough guy act. This just wasn’t me. 

 

I backed up from him finding a desk. "Just…" I started, my hand pulling out a chair, not looking at him. "I just don’t want anything to do with you." I sat down, ignoring him. 

 

He tried to give me an angry glare, but found a desk further back in the classroom. On his way to the back of the class, he leaned in on me. His breath warm against my face. I could see the splashes of green in his eyes when he tilted his head to the side, just an inch, trying to size me up. Almost like he was threatening me with that smirky face of his. 

 

"It’s razzle dazzle time, Kogane. I’m not done with you." He got up, a large tan hand fisting my desk. "Oh, and the name’s Lance. Don’t forget that." He spat back in my face, then walked to the back of the class. 

 

*_*

 

I was in the middle of a test when the speaker went on. "Can Mr. Kogane come to the principal’s office."

 

"Really! In the middle of a test? He knew I had a test this period." I gritted my teeth. 

 

"Kogane, go. We already know you aced the test. You can retake it later if you need to." Mr. Coran called from his desk, legs lifted on it while reading the paper. Such a sleeze. 

 

Before I left the classroom, my neck craned to catch a look at new guy. He looked like he was struggling, biting his pencil, his other hand ripping at his short bangs. I almost felt sorry for him, but this was an easy test. He should be able to get at least a C. 

 

I made my way out, finding the principal’s office. 

 

"Hey Keith. Sorry I pulled you out of class, I knew you had a test this period but it was the only free time I had." said Adam, giving me a reassuring smile that he didn’t bring me here to scold me or anything. "Listen, you’re one of our finest students. Guess we can thank Takeshi for that." He joked, always finding an opportunity to talk about his husband, but I got enough of that at home when they both acted like stupid teenagers. "Anyway. We need you to tutor a student. He’s new here, and we’ve been receiving some complaints from the teachers."

 

My mind went immediately to McClain. Mother fucking-Before I could open my mouth to protest, Adam shot a hand up asking to explain. I closed my mouth, letting him proceed, rolling my eyes at how annoying this was becoming. 

 

"Keith. I knew you would deny this, but you’re too smart, and we think you would be a good tutor for him. I’m guessing you already know who we’re talking about." said Adam, a smile finding his face. He was so enjoying this, he loved tormenting me. "And you know you can’t say no. We brought you up better than that." His smile widened to a wicked grin. 

 

God damnit, he was right. "Yeah sure, okay. But, you should know he’s a bad influence and if I turn into a delinquent, I’ll pin it on you." I winked, but he just bursted out laughing knowing perfectly well that would never happen. I couldn’t be bad, it wasn’t in my nature. 

 

"Oh Keith, that one is going on the fridge at home. I’m making Takeshi turn that into a stupid quote." Adam wiped away an invisible tear. "Now get going, you guys meet tomorrow after school." He said.

 

I got up, slinging my black backpack on my shoulder before I said, "I can’t ride home with you today. I got dentition....because of him. But I won’t say I told you so....not yet. See you later, Adam." I smirked on my way out of his office. 


	2. Detention

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith has to suffer through detention with a certain delinquent

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are a lot of typos, I'll fix them later. Sorry! This was rushed af.

Lance was standing outside the classroom before detention trying to look all cool with his hands rested in the pockets of his dark blue bomber jacket. 

 

When I walked past him, he was leaning on the wall giving me a sly smirk. "Ready for your first lesson of detention.." Lance’s splashed green eyes flickered up and down taking me in, "Mullet?" He made a devilish grin, thinking the nickname would make me angry. 

 

It did make me angry. Actually, I could feel my hand gripping the strap of my backpack pretty hard, but I tried not to let it show. This guy was going to be under my command until he could get a passing grade in some of his classes, but he didn’t need to know that just yet. Let’s just get through detention first. 

 

I rolled my eyes at his nickname for me, trying to come up with a comback nickname that would aggitate him like me. Maybe comment on his jacket, but he actually looked really good in that bomber jacket, and it really made me want to punch a hole in the wall next to his face when I thought about that. 

 

My nose made a heavy breathing sound, drawing in a sharp, long breath. Lance cocked a brown brow up, waiting for me to say anything. I could feel my breath just staying in my lungs, not willing to release. Might as well suffocate, I guess. I let the breath loose, slowly, making sure he could hear me. 

 

"Take that as a yes, you ace everything right? Detention can’t be that hard, if I can do it," He neared me like he did in earlier in class. The same warm breath hitting my face, smelling like mints, probably to mask the smoking. "then you can definitely do it, Mullet." He spat the nickname in my face with a sharp puff of air. Man I wanted to punch his face, but Adam would kill me, then Shiro would have his turn afterwards, and then they would both kill me together while singing love songs to each other. 

 

I chose to ignore him, walking quickly past him to get into the classroom and find a desk closest to the teacher. Mr. Coran was the teacher who was chosen to babysit the delinquents in today’s detention. I, along with Lance and some other students I recognized to be the troublemakers of Garrison Prep where spread out in the classroom giving me judging stares, as if I didn’t belong here. Hey, I know I don’t belong here, it’s your new friend’s fault. Was what I wanted to tell them, but my insides started to make me feel sick whenever I caught one of their menacing stares.

 

When I sat down and pulled out my extra curriculum homework, I looked outside the windows and noticed how dark the clouds were getting. Typical, the one day I can’t get a ride home with Adam and it’s going to rain. Like crazy too given from how dark those clouds were getting. 

 

It felt like the calm of a storm when Lance trudged his long legs over to my seat. _Don’t sit next to me_ , I thought. But my prayers were ignored when Lance sat down at the desk next to mine. Lucky me. If I was lucky he would just ignore me since I was sitting close to Coran. I did that instinctively so that if Lance wants to bother me, Coran can yell at him to stop then he’ll get bored and find a new spot to sit leaving me to my peace to get through this fucking hell hole. 

 

I was pretending to be deep into my homework when my eyes carefully trailed to look at what Lance had planned to do during detention. This was his turf. He must have been here every day after school since he started here. I can’t say I wasn’t curious to see if he acted like an asshole here like he did in the classes he had with me. These were other delinquents, his peers or maybe people he felt intimidated by so maybe he would coward in their presence and be quiet for once. 

 

"Hernando, my man, back again? Good to see you." Lance nodded behind him to Hernando who was sitting all the way in the back corner trying to burn something with a lighter. Why wasn’t Coran doing something about this, he might burn down the school for quiznack’s sake. 

 

"Jimmy, how’s it hanging? Smoke tomorrow after first period, you owe me one." Lance then said, to Jimmy Connolly, the most known delinquent we had at this school. No one, and I mean no one fucked with Jimmy. He had contacts all over the school grounds and outside of it. I did my best to stay out of his way at all times. And here was Lance demanding him stuff, damn he had already climbed up the ranks at this school through the bad kids. Remind me why Adam thought I was the best option to tutor him, he was going to eat me alive. 

 

At that sudden thought, I made a sour face, then I made a desperate face telling myself to just calm down, to breathe in and out and that you could get through this. One day at a time. You only need to see this guy at school, and in the hallways, and in class and after school. For how long, who the fuck knows until he was smart, I guess. 

I groaned. 

"What’s your deal, Mullet? You look kinda distressed. Detention can’t be that bad, you got Lancey-Lance here with ya." He shrugged off his dark blue bomber jacket, revealing that crisp white t-shirt with a _The Clash_ logo printed on it. His longs legs were hugged with light blue jeans that sunk deeper and deeper until they crossed at the ankles, his black Doc Martens shining in the light. They had to be brand new, stolen was my guess, because they were so shiny almost blinding me when I stole glance at his legs popping out from under his desk. 

 

"Be quiet, and don’t talk to me. We’re in detention. There’s a no talking policy." I nodded my head at Mr. Coran, who was too sucked into his paper not giving a rat’s ass about us other humans in the classroom. I had to give Adam a lesson on how to hire people or who to hire at his school. This was supposed to be a high-end prep school which the students liked to be at because we didn’t need to wear uniforms all the time.

 

In my opinion, I think we should have worn uniforms, but that would have become the argument of the century with Adam and no way was I going through one of those with him. He was scary enough when he was being nice. 

 

My watch ticked, it had only gone ten minutes. Man time was slow when you were not having fun and had to sit next to this joke of a guy. But he was surprisingly calm at the moment. He had pulled out a notebook and a pencil scribbling some words on it. I tried to incline my head to the side to get a better look at what he was writing without getting caught. My guess was that he was planning my death, but I couldn’t read the words. They were in Spanish, and Spanish was one the only class I didn’t have an A in. Yeah, languages are hard okay. 

 

Lance looked frustrated while scribbling, he quickly ripped out the paper from his notebook and threw the piece of paper in the trash next to Mr. Coran’s desk. My instinct was that I needed to get that piece of paper when detention was over. I knew someone who could translate it for me, maybe I might have something on him so that he’d stop bugging me or discard his plan to kill me. 

 

A loud groan sounded from Lance when he continued to write in his notebook. I tried to ignore him, but felt a slight pang in my chest. I shook off the feeling, going back to my homework, but before I could even touch a pencil tip to my notebook, a note had flung its way to my desk. I furrowed my brows while opening the crumpled piece of paper. 

 

 

> _I’m bored, MULLET_. 
> 
> _Do something crazy before I tell Coran that you said he was a nancy pants._

 

Who did he think he was? The nerve of that insolent jack-ass. My countdown started from 3 strikes, and now he was down to 2 and we hadn’t even started studying together yet. I was definitely going to let Adam know how many strikes this guy had left, and if he wounded up getting zero, it was bye bye good grades, hello juvie, or a bad college, whatever. 

 

"Hell no." I simply said in a low whisper, glaring my dark eyes at him. He wasn’t going to be the boss of me. Besides, Coran wouldn’t even believe him. I never- NEVER- told off any teachers. It wasn’t my nature. 

 

"Fine." Lance huffed as he got up, his long legs shifting under his desk making a lot of noise. The sound of his desk dragging was causing some sort of bleeding in my ears. 

 

"Mr. McClain, what do you think you are doing? Sit down, detention isn’t over yet." Coran said, switching his ankles on his desk giving Lance a care look. 

 

"Mr. Kogane just told me he thought you looked like a nancy pants. Thought I’d spread the word." He winked at Mr. Coran who was now wearing an incredulous look, directed at me. Did he believe this guy? Seriously? I’m a straight A student, I do no wrong! 

 

"Now Keith, I thought we were tight. Adam always has nice things to say about you. I guess this just leads me to do only one thing." Mr Coran eyed me while his mustache made a slight twitch. 

 

_No, no, no,_ I thought knowing exactly what this meant. God damn this dude, now he had one strike left. 

 

"I am afraid to say, you will be having detention tomorrow as well, Mr. Kogane. That’ll make you understand that, Coran-the-man-» Lance made a guttural laugh at that, "can not be dealt with like this. I’m disappointed in you, Keith. Thank you young chap. You’ve been quiet all week in detention, you seem like a nice young fellow, maybe Keith here should receive a pointer or two from you." Coran went back to his paper, flipping to the next page in quite a rage. 

 

"That’s strike two, McClain." I said low, hoping he didn’t hear me while going back to my homework. Seriously, Adam would have to pull me out of detention tomorrow if he wanted me to tutor this guy. I didn’t have time for this shit. 

 

Lance sat back down, pleased with himself. "Maybe Mullet…should learn a thing or two from me." He leaned in on me irking to get my attention, but It took all of my might to not care. He wasn’t worth my time, at least not until tomorrow. 

 

The bell finally rang, and everyone lazily got up from their seats of hell. While everyone was spilling out of the classroom, I took the chance to swoop into the trash can and grab the piece of paper Lance flung earlier. When it was in my grasp I quickly put it in my coat pocket, clapping the pocket twice as a job well done. 

 

Lance had made it to the exit, a large brown hand pushing on the door to get out. When the door opened it revealed a raging storm going on outside. Wind was lashing out with strong gusts, the trees swinging in a haywire. Rain was pattering down in wet sheets, and guess who forgot to bring an umbrella? Hell, there was sun this morning, who would have thought of bringing an umbrella? 

"Great." I murmured, staring at the rain like it was my worst enemy. 

 

"You know, Mullet. I can give you ride home." I heard a familiar voice next to me. 

 

I inched my head to the side to look at Lance standing almost a head taller than me, had to be the heels of his boots, his large tan hands resting in his jacket pockets, wearing a smug smile. His hair was tousled, the longer strands at his neck curling even more than earlier. Suddenly I felt prickled sensation finding my cheeks. What the fuck, stop, it had to be the wind hitting my face. 

 

"Why would you want to give me a ride home? You just cost me another day in detention, and it wasn’t even my fault." I blamed him, tipping my chin up to the dark gray sky. 

 

"Hey! Either ride with me or walk home in the pouring rain getting all wet. It’s your choice." He started walking out into the rain, probably towards his car. 

 

I made an angry groan when I followed after him. 


	3. Joyride

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith tries not to die on the ride home ~

Lance drove a blue Ford Fiesta and would not shut up about it on the ride home. He talked about how much he loved driving in it, how he built his own stereo to get the best sound when listening to music and how much the chicas liked it. I did not need to know that, I didn’t care.

 

"Lance! Please stop talking about your stupid car, I don’t care." I interjected in the middle of his chat about how fast it went from 0 to 100 in seconds. I just did not care.

 

"What’s not in your ass." Lance groaned, gripping the steering wheel with one hand hardly paying attention to the road when his other hand fumbled around for a chocolate bar he found in the glove compartment.

 

"Pay attention the road, for God’s sake you’re gonna get us killed." I shot a hand to the road praying his ocean eyes trailed along to my hand.

 

"Hey, I’m an awesome driver. Ever seen _Tokyo Drift_ , it’s like my favorite movie. Check this out!" He screamed, dragging the wheel to a hard right at a turn, his free hand pulling the brake lever. His car made a hard left turn at that and I could hear my voice screaming at the sudden drifting he did. He was so going to get us killed.

 

"Laaance! Stop, please!" I continued screaming. Lance was laughing next to me enjoying our little joyride.

 

His car finally stopped drifting when the road didn’t have any turns left to swing on. Lance slowed down when he began driving down a neighborhood with kids playing in the street. "See, I’m an awesome driver." He said, his white teeth blinding me in the mirror catching my sudde stare.

 

Fine, I could admit that he was an excellent diver. His turns were actually really good, cutting at just the right moment and slowing down right on time when we hit this neighborhood. I could say I was impressed, but refused to show him that I was. Instead, I crossed my arms then said, "You could have easily killed us if a car came by. You were just lucky."

 

Lance shot both his thin brown brows up high, giving me an incredulous look like I was the biggest liar out there. "Exsqueeze me. Did you just offend my driving? You saw, you felt those turns, Kogane. Don’t tell me you’re not impressed with that. What do you know, you don’t even have a car. Do you even have your licence?" He asked me, blue eyes focused on the road.

 

I got my licence almost two years ago on my birthday, but Adam and Shiro said they didn’t see the point in buying me a car when I could catch a ride with Adam to school. Besides, I wasn’t that social so I never did anything outside of school except study or play videogames. "I do have my licence, I got it on my 16th birthday." I told Lance, using a tone indicating that this was stupid and boring. I just wanted to ignore him, but that was hard to do when it was only the two of us in the car, and he never shut up.

 

"Nice, I’ll teach you how to drift one day. You need to know this in your sad life." He retorted, but smiled that stupid grin of his. I felt a new jump in my stomach, my hand rubbing it to calm it down.

 

 _Must be the turns_ , I thought.

 

"Anyways, what’s good to do aroud here? You know, besides all the chicas." He slapped his knee with his free hand thinking he was hilarious. He wasn’t, just wanted to point that out.

 

"I don’t know. I don’t go out that much, too much school to focus on than having a social life." I said, looking down at my hands fiddling to his question.

 

"Really? But haven’t you like lived here your whole life?" Lance then asked sounding interested in my life. I didn’t want to give away too much about my life, I was just going to tutor him, not that he knew that yet.

 

"You have the skating rink, the movies, the batting cages uhm…there are a lot of great cafés in town, I think."

 

"You think! Do you never go out, Kogane? Don’t you have friends you hang out with? I haven’t seen you talk to anyone in class though, your head is always in a book." He chided, making a turn this time sans drift, thank God.

 

I did have friends, but we chatted mostly online. 

 

"I have friends, they're just not in the same year as us. One of them is a sophomore and the other is a junior." Was all I wanted to tell him, he didn’t need to know any more of my personal life. He’d have to earn that if he wanted to know more about me. I crossed my arms again directing my gaze to the window, trying hard to ignore him whenever he opened his mouth.

 

"Fine, cool. So where to now?" He asked. I had told him where I lived when I got in the car, but I guess he doens’t know what Google Maps is.

 

I huffed out an exasperated breath, "Here." I flung out my phone and punched in my address then sat my phone on the dashboard so that he could follow the GPS and let me go back to ignoring him.

 

"Sweet, thanks." He smiled again, a new tug in my gut.

 

"Soo…" Lance started, directing his eyes to me every three seconds. It was getting kind of annoying. It was also obvious he wanted to ask me something, but caught quickly on to my annoyance at him. He was a quick learner. Good.

 

"Yeah." I said, said annoyance finding my voice.

 

"I was just wondering about your...uhhh..your scar." He pointed to his cheek. "What happened, it looks kind of badass." Lance said quietly, a bit uncomfortable with his question. Guess he was taking precautions in case this turned out to be a touchy subject for me. He could be considerate at times, weird. Didn’t seem like him to be that.

 

"Nothing happened, it’s just a birthmark." I simply said. There truly wasn’t much to say about my scar.

 

I noticed he kept on staring at it. I couldn’t blame him, it’s quite noticeable, almost like the tip of a crescent moon tracing the top of my cheek all the way down to my neck. No wonder Lance was curious, he didn’t need to feel bad for asking. Everyone asked, so I was always prepared to just say it was a birthmark. It was easier that way.

 

"Cool, cool. I like it. Makes you look more badass. You know, since you dress like a pussy with that stupid shirt under a sweater get up. Does a priest clothe you?" And Lance was back. He was thoughtful for a whole ten seconds, had to be a record of some sort.

 

I just made a loud huff, my gaze burning on the GPS to get me home faster. "Why do you care so much about my outfit, McClain. It’s not like you’re going to change me, I like dressing like this. Have you seen yourself in the mirror?" I tried to retort back, but I knew it was a bust. He did actually have a cool style that suited him, and I wouldn’t have mind some pointers on how to dress. Shiro was the one who bought all of my clothes, and he did dress like a Sunday teacher. I rolled my eyes to the window at the thought of Lance being right.

 

"I dunno, Kogane. Something inside of you screams to get out, and it’s not a shirt with a pocket protector. You need to find your inner rocker, the mullet and your scar says it all." He smirked, pulling in to my driveway.

 

"Sure whatever, I’m never going to dress like you." I gave him a hateful glare, not looking forward to tutoring this asshole. "Thanks for the ride, I guess." My hand went to the handle before Lance gripped my arm pulling me back.

 

"Listen, Kogane. I know you hate me." He contemplated about saying something else looking away for a second, but continued, "I’ve seen the cold stares you give me in class, like you want to impale me with something. That you think you’re better than me. You don’t even know me, so stop judging. Just because you’re the principal’s kid doesn’t give you the right to feel superior to me. We all have our backgrounds. Now get going, I can see daddy principal in the window waiting." Lance nodded towards Adam peeking through the curtain of the window.

 

I didn’t know how to respod to what Lance told me so I just shrugged his hand off my arm, shooting out of his car like a rocket. "Whatever, see you tomorrow." I said, making my way to the front door.

 

Behind me I heard his car pulling out of the driveway, speeding away way past the speed limit. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haha, I just rewatched Tokyo Drift, it's my favorite F&F movie and I am convinced that Lance is Sean and Keith is Han. Someone needs to write a fic with that AU.


	4. Poem

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith comes home to nagging...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really wanted to post another chapter today, I'm really liking where the story is going. I have outline some more chapters so hope to get some more up this week.

"Keeeef!" Ruby tackled me like the little devil of a sister she is. Her tiny arms wrapping tightly around my thighs, since she was really short and five. 

 

"Ruby! Hands off of Keith, you know you’re sick. You don’t want your big brother to get sick, too?" I heard Shiro’s strict voice yelling from the kitchen. 

 

Both of Ruby’s arms dropped, a large pout jutting out from her lower lip, her deep brown eyes watering. Bring on the water works. I made a cringing face preparing for wails. To my surprise she ran back into the kitchen, her long mop of black hair trailing along. 

 

"So, Keith." Adam cocked a brown brow at me, leaning on the door. "Who drove you home?" A sly smirk was forming on his lips now. Ugh, please just leave me alone. 

 

"No one." I said, avoiding his stare crashing on the sofa. Ruby ran back into the living room wanting to sit in my lap, but Shiro came back out of the kitchen giving her a knowing glare of disapproval. She didn’t care when she stuck her tongue out at him. 

 

"Ruby, that’s not right." Adam chuckled, hunching down on one knee to her level. "Look at papa, see my finger?" She nodded vigorously her eyes trailing his index finer touching the skin under his left eye. "Pull your finger here, then stick out your tongue and say….blaaarrrghhh." Adam made the face at his husband, Ruby mirroring the childish gesture making the sound that went along with it. 

 

"Children, I live with a bunch of children. Except you, Keith. Feet off the table." Shiro pointed to my feet on the table, they slid off as soon as he said the word _feet._

 

"Well, it looked like someone to me. He seemed like he didn’t want to leave unnoticed. He got a name, Keith?" Adam pushed. 

 

I flipped through the channels trying to ignore him. He could be such a nag. "I said it was no one. He just offered to drive me home when he saw that I didn’t have an umbrella on me."

 

"Keith….come on! You finally do something social and you won’t tell me. Please, I want to give you fatherly advice for once. You’re seventeen, you’ll be eighteen soon, I need to use some of my life experience on you." Adam pleaded, crashing on the couch next to me. I could see the crinkle in his eyes, he wasn’t that much older than me. He was turning thirty soon, but that was like twelve years older than me, how much wisdom could he have to reflect on me?

 

I huffed out annoyingly. "Fine. It was Lance McClain, the guy you want me to tutor. I can’t shake him off for some reason." I admitted, still flicking through different channels, annoyance finding my face. 

 

"Keith." Adam took the remote, turning off the TV. Then he gave me a stern look. 

 

"Why are you so angry? Lance seems nice. Sure, he’s the school’s newest delinquent, and he did spray paint some vulgar drawings in the boy’s locker room yesterday, but boys will be boys." He laughed, looking like he was thinking about a certain memory. 

 

I knew he missed his high school days, he was one of the worst delinquents Garrison Prep ever had and now he’s their principal. People would think _how the hell did he land that job_ , but my gaze went to Shiro. That’s how. 

 

"Adam! Was the boy who drove Keith home that delinquent you talked about yesterday? The one who Keith has to tutor? What if he becomes a bad influence on him? He needs to keep his grades up to get into college." Shiro was wearing an apron I made him in home ec. freshman year, it was light pink with ruffles on the edges. I made it as a gag gift for Christmas, but he’s wears it all the time. 

 

"I got this honey, don’t worry. I think Keith will be the influencer of the two. We’ve raised him well, so, chill." He waved his fingers in a _chill out_ kind of way. Adam never grew up, he would be sixteen forever mentally, it was awesome. I loved him a lot. 

 

"I don’t like the sound of this kid. You better keep your eyes on him when he’s around Keith." Shiro went back into the kitchen. "Ruby, come help daddy make dinner!" Ruby ran after Shiro’s voice, arms in the air like she was a ninja. 

 

"You have nothing to worry about. I made it clear to him that we’re not friends, or that I have no interest in becoming friends with him. He still doesn’t know I’m going to tutor him. I thought I’d give him the news tomorrow, or just let him have the bad news when he sees me." I saw my reflection in the black mirror of the TV. 

 

"I don’t know if that’s the correct approach, but it’s your life, not mine. I’m not going to tell you what to do or not do. You guys can figure it own on your own. I didn’t tell him who was going to tutor him, so he’ll have a pleasant surprise when he sees it’s you." Adam smiled, ruffling my hair. 

 

"Stop…" I laughed, "I won’t be so sure on the pleasant part of it." Suddenly I remembered that I had the piece of paper Lance was scribbling on in detention. 

 

I got up to find my jacket, pulling out the piece of paper. "Can you translate this? You know my Spanish’s not the best." I said sheepishly. Adam had always wanted me to learn Spanish since it was his mother tongue, but it was just so damn hard. 

 

"You need to brush up on the language, Keith. Spanish is not hard." Adman teased, sitting up on the couch. 

 

"Or hire a better teacher." I retorted, but regretted my words instantly. 

 

"Señorita Santiago is an excellent Spanish teacher, you need to put in more effort and motivation in the language, that’s all." He smiled, waving me over when I found the piece of paper. 

 

"Let’s see." He said, coughing loudly to get everyone’s attention. Before he chose to read it out loud, he read through it on his own, his dark eyes reflecting behind his glasses, tracing the penciled written words. "Wow." He finished, making an impressed look. 

 

"Where did you find this?" He asked me, waving the paper in the air. 

 

"I found it on my desk in detention." I lied looking him directly in the eyes so that he couldn’t catch my lie. He knew all of my tells, but the last years I’ve worked my way with different lies to see which tells he could find on me. I accomplished them all, he never knew when I lied. 

 

"It’s a really good poem. Listen." He said, coughing loudly again. Shiro had Ruby in his arms when they came out of the kitchen to listen to Adam recite the poem. 

 

 

> _Me gustas cuando callas porque estás como ausente, y me oyes desde lejos, y mi voz no te toca. Parece que los ojos se te hubieran volado y parece que un beso te cerrara la boca._

 

 

> _Como todas las cosas están llenas de mi alma emerges de las cosas, llena del alma mía. Mariposa de sueño, te pareces a mi alma, y te pareces a la palabra melancolía._

 

 

> _Me gustas cuando callas y estás como distante.Y estás como quejándote, mariposa en arrullo. Y me oyes desde lejos, y mi voz no te alcanza: déjame que me calle con el silencio tuyo._

 

 

> _Déjame que te hable también con tu silencio claro como una lámpara, simple como un anillo. Eres como la noche, callada y constelada. Tu silencio es de estrella, tan lejano y sencillo._

 

 

> _Me gustas cuando callas porque estás como ausente. Distante y dolorosa como si hubieras muerto. Una palabra entonces, una sonrisa bastan. Y estoy alegre, alegre de que no sea cierto._

 

 

> _I_ **_like for you to be still: it is as though you were absent, and you hear me from far away and my voice does not touch you. It seems as though your eyes had flown away and it seems that a kiss had sealed your mouth._ **

 

 

> **_As all things are filled with my soul you emerge from the things, filled with my soul. You are like my soul, a butterfly of dream, and you are like the word Melancholy._ **

 

 

> **_I like for you to be still, and you seem far away. It sounds as though you were lamenting, a butterfly cooing like a dove. And you hear me from far away, and my voice does not reach you: Let me come to be still in your silence._ **

 

 

> **_And let me talk to you with your silence that is bright as a lamp, simple as a ring.You are like the night, with its stillness and constellations.Your silence is that of a star, as remote and candid._ **

 

 

> **_I like for you to be still: it is as though you were absent,distant and full of sorrow as though you had died.One word then, one smile, is enough.And I am happy, happy that it's not true._ **

 

"That’s what it really says? It’s amazing." I could feel my heart beat rapidly when Adam finished translating the poem. 

 

"I’m asking one more time, Keith. Who wrote this? This should be recognized." Adam waved the piece of paper before giving it back to me. 

 

"I said I don’t know. I found it. I was curious, thanks for reading it." I smiled, feeling my heart rate going back to normal. 

 

Shiro was holding Ruby close to him. His gray eyes glistening. "Shiro, you getting emotional?" I teased. 

 

"Yes, is that so bad? It was beautiful." He said through a tight throat, carrying Ruby back into the kitchen, clearing his throat. "Dinner is ready in fifteen." He shouted, Ruby shouted the same thing after him. She’s in a copy cat phase. 

 

"It is beautiful, but the hand writing is horrible. Definitely not a girl who wrote this." Adam said, getting up to go into the kitchen to help Shiro with dinner. 

 

Dinner was a nightmare. Shiro scolded me for getting detention twice, then he scolded Adam for letting me get detention and having a delinquent driving me home. Seriously, I’m seventeen years old. He treated me like I was still a seven year old. 

 

I could feel my hands turning into fists, but felt Adam’s hand rest on top of mine giving me a look to calm down. We both knew how strict Shiro could be, and that he did this only for my best interest. He loved me too much, especially when him and Adam wanted to adopt me, he wanted nothing other than to give me the best upbringing I deserved. He was forgiven. 

 

"Thanks for dinner, Shiro. May I be excused?" I asked, trying to give him a smile but it was kind of hard after being scolded for something that wasn’t even my fault. 

 

Shiro didn’t look me in the eye when he nodded. I felt a hard tug in my gut. It eased when Adam rested his hand on my back. "I’ll talk to Coran tomorrow. You and Lance can have detention in the library or else you’ll be at school till late. You guys can have a joint session. Besides, tutoring Lance will be like detention anyways, right?" He joked. 

 

I just ignored him, eye rolling him so hard when I made my way upstairs to my room. 

 

"Hey man, heard a rumor you were in detention. Did Shiro kill you when he found out?" Pidge laughed out loud as soon as I booted up my computer and logged into our Discord chat. 

 

"I'm pretty sure he murdered his dinner pretending it was my face." I joked. 

 

"How the hell did you end up getting detention anyway, aren’t you like the class angel, pet or something?" She asked, clicking away on the game she invited me to play. 

 

"It was the new guy’s fault. He started bugging me in class, one thing led to another and I was shouting forgetting we were in the middle of class. Allura’s class of all classes."

 

"Fuck man, that’s harsh. She’s tough as rocks, dude. How was it, detention?" She asked, shouting a loud roar when she managed to get a penta-kill. 

 

"Boring. The new guy started bugging me again, then he blackmailed me into something landing me another day of detention. He’s out to get me." I groaned. 

 

"Hey guys! Who’s the new guy you’re talking about?" Hunk joined in on our chat. 

 

"Lance McClain. Tan boy. Tall and lanky. Looks like a thin, muscular tree. Brown hair, blue eyes, dresses nice." Pidge said.

 

I chose not to comment on her liking his clothes, since I agreed. 

 

"Him? He’s the school’s new delinquent? He’s like super nice." Hunk suddenly said. 

 

"WHAT!?" Pidge and I exclaimed in the chat. 

 

"Yeah, I met him in the lunch line. We started talking about movies, he’s like a human encyclopedia on horror flicks. I invited him to sit with us at lunch tomorrow." He informed, sounding cheerier than was necessary. 

 

"YOU DID WHAT?!" I shouted in my mic. 

 

"Keith!!!" Adam shouted for me to shut up. 

 

"Sorry!" I shouted back. 

 

"What the hell, dude. We’re not supposed to interact with that guy, he hates my guts and I hate his." I glared into my computer screen, feeling the heat rise in my throat clicking away on my enemies pretending they all had Lance’s face. 

 

"Aww, come on, Keith. Just give him a chance." Hunk said. 

 

I gave him enough chances. He had one strike left. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love Ruby so much <3
> 
> Btw, I found the poem online so creds to the author whom I forgot to copy the name....


	5. Surprise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith takes what Lance said about his outfit to heart.

The next morning, Ruby landed on top of me, jumping on my stomach shouting with her cute squeaky voice for me to wake up. "Keeef, wake up! Wake up! Time for school!"

I groaned into my pillow not wanting to wake up because I knew I had to see his face again, hear his voice again. My fist hit the bed’s headboard lightly. "I’m up, I’m up." Tired coming from my voice. 

 

Ruby was still jumping on my bed, screaming to wake up. I grabbed her then pulled her in for a hug, blowing raspberries on her neck, her giggles warming my heart. I would love that kid to death, she was my whole world. 

 

"Morning. Here Keith, take this." Shiro handed me a crisp white shirt to put on. 

 

I grabbed the shirt, thanking him. Ruby stayed in my room when I closed the door to look at the shirt he wanted me to put on. My thoughts drifted to what Lance said about my outfit, and who dressed me. 

 

For some reason, my hand took the shirt and flung it on to my bed. Then decided to run to my closet trying to find something that wasn’t a shirt, or a sweater or slacks. Something that didn’t scream _pussy_ , or _nerd_ or _teacher’s pet_. I was going to find that inner rocker who wanted to come out. 

 

"Nope. No. No way. Ugghhh, nothing. I have nothing." I said aggravatingly at my closet. All I owned were clothes Shiro made me wear. Naturally, everything was bought by him which meant I had absolutely nothing that screamed delinquent, err, rocker. 

 

Ruby copied my angered state, sitting down in front of the closet mirror huffing with her arms crossed. Adorable. 

 

"Want to try Papa’s room?" I tickled her, running to Adam’s closet. 

 

While I rummaged through his closet, Ruby helping me by tossing all of Adam’s clothes on the floor shouting _no, no, noo._  I felt a tap on my shoulder. 

 

"Keith, what are you doing. You aren’t dressed yet?" Adam had his hand’s on his hips shaking his head at me and Ruby. 

 

Ruby made a wide smile. "Papa, Keith needs new clothes." She said, throwing a black sweater on the floor screaming _no_ again.

 

"What do you need?" He smiled, going through his own closet trying to find something for me to wear. 

 

I felt a tinge of embarrassment finding my cheeks. "I dunno, something that would make me look like a....a rocker?" I said, looking out into the hall on the lookout for Shiro.

 

"Really? Where’s this suddenly coming from?" Adam asked, looking surprised. 

 

I shrugged, "I guess, I just wanted to try a different style. Like as an experiment. It’s my last year in high school, maybe I need to be more noticed." A hand found my neck, I wasn’t sure why I wanted to try something new, but all I could hear in my head was Lance’s voice. 

 

A wide toothy smile tugged at Adam’s lips. "I know just the thing." He said, rummaging through his closet going pretty deep. "Here we are." He flung a red and black checkered shirt at me, then a black t-shirt. 

 

"Wear the shirt open with the black t-shirt under. Go find your black skinny jeans, I have an idea." He made a shooing gesture for me to get my skinny jeans. 

 

I found them all the way in the back of my own closet forgetting I even had them. Shiro hated jeans, especially the skinny kind. He had a long-ass word document written up about how much he hated skinny jeans. Not an interesting read, trust me. 

 

Adam took the jeans when I handed them to him. He flung out a pocket knife from his back pocket, a wince escaping me at the sight of the sharp blade. He noticed my wince. "Sorry, Keith." Adam made an apologetic look forgetting. He took the pants, ripping the knees with the sharp knife. 

 

"Here, try on the clothes. Let me know what you think?" He smiled, putting the knife quickly away. 

 

With the clothes in my arms, I went into the bathroom to try them on. My dark eyes went big with surprise when I saw the outfit on me. As my reflection caught the mirror, I noticed how my black hair looked tousled, my bangs everywhere, the long strands resting gently on the curve between my shoulder and neck. A smile quickly found my face when I looked at the outfit. The rips in the skinny jeans were perfect, complementing the rest of the outfit. I did look like a rocker, especially with my disheveled hair, or mullet as Lance called it. 

 

"Perfect. The rips at the knees was just what you needed. You suit the look, Keith. Takes me back." Adam laughed, remembering his delinquent days. He did a lot of bad stuff that he’s still proud of today. I’ve heard a lot of stories, which still had me question him why he wanted to become a principal. 

 

"Thanks. But I don’t think I have any shoes to go with this outfit, or a jacket. Would my coat fit with this?" I felt like I was on _Fashion Police_. Why was I so hung up on changing my outfit, this would have been solved fifteen minutes ago if I just went along with what Shiro picked out for me. 

 

"Take my black boots, and my leather jacket in the hall. They’ll go perfect with your look. Man, everyone’s going to freak when they see you." Adam looked happy, happier than usual. It made me happy, too. 

 

He was already dating Shiro when Shiro took me in to live with him. I was seven then, I’m seventeen now and this is the first time I’ve felt close to Adam as a father figure. He had been trying the last ten years, but too much happened in my past that I never wanted to acknowledge him as a father. He was more like a big brother. Today though, in this moment, he felt like a father to me. 

 

"Yeah." I breathed out, giving him a warm smile. "Thank you for this, Adam. I could never go to Shiro with this, I needed you." I hugged him. 

 

"Anytime...son." I think I heard a crack in his voice, but decided to ignore it savoring our hug.

 

"Adam!! Can you dress Ruby? I need to pack her lunch." Shiro yelled from the bottom of the stairs. 

 

"Duty calls. See you downstairs, we leave in ten." He ruffled my bangs, running downstairs. 

 

I slumped onto their bed looking at my reflection in the closet mirror. This new me was someone I felt I liked. My thoughts went to Lance again, thinking about what he would say about my new look. Would he call me a pussy now? How would Pidge and Hunk react? Suddenly, I felt like taking off the clothes, but took a deep breath in then out. 

 

"Keith!? What are you wearing, you look like a delinquent. Is it that Lance boy? I mean it, I’ll call his parents and tell them to have a tighter grip on their son." Shiro was holding Ruby’s hand ready to drive her to daycare. Seems like she was feeling better, she wore a happy smile on her face. 

 

"I chose to wear this Shiro. I like it, I think it suits me." I said confidently back to him, standing up for myself for once. He couldn’t protect me all the time. 

 

Shiro made a sigh, opening the door. "I’ll see you after school, remember you have to study for that test on Friday." He reminded me, picking Ruby up to the car. 

 

"Have a nice day at daycare, Rubes. I love you." I pulled at her cheek. 

 

"Bye, Keef. Wuv you." She waved with her little hands. 

 

When they drove away, Adam made a worried look. "Don’t worry about Takashi. He only wants to make sure you’re getting the future you deserve."

 

"It’s a bit much at times. He knows I’m moving out once I graduate. I can take care of myself." I crossed my arms, leaning by the window looking outside into the neighborhood. 

 

"Of course you can take care of yourself, but after what happened...Takashi just doesn’t want you to suffer anymore. He loves you." Adam found his shoes. 

 

Before he slipped on his shoes and jacket we both jumped from a loud honking outside our house. I darted back to the window dragging the curtain to the side. In the driveway was a familiar blue Ford Fiesta, and a tan boy smiling widely still honking on his horn.

 

"Can you make him stop?" Adam had his hands to his ears, a smile on his face. He was enjoying this. 

 

I mirrored Shiro’s sigh when I opened the door peeking out to give Lance a death glare to stop pushing on the fucking horn. He caught my stare lifting both arms up in defeat, then he winked at me. His wink caused a small flame heating on my cheeks, fuck. I closed the door. 

 

"Get going, he’s waiting." Adam commanded pushing my backpack in my arms, opening the door. He caught Lance looking worried then caught Adam’s stare not sure how to react. Adam smiled his best smile whenever he met with new people, waving at Lance. Lance waved back, a smile back on his face. 

 

"Do I have to?" I groaned, feeling like I was ten years old again when James Griffin’s mom had carpool in grade school. 

 

"Yes. Now get. I’ll see you at school. Good luck." He whispered the last part in my ear, almost like a threat. Then he pushed me out the door, hard, to get the message.

 

"Keith!?" Adam shouted before closing the door. I craned my neck towards him. "Make sure he drives the speed limit."

 

I went around the car finding the door to the passenger side. "Hey." I said, trying to avoid his gaze. 

 

It was eerily quiet in the car. No music, no Lance talking a storm about movies. I had to see if he was alive. When my stare caught his, I cocked an eyebrow. "What?" I asked, brows furrowing now.

 

Lance made a swallowing motion, his blue eyes trailing from my face then down to my outfit. I felt my cheeks heat again forgetting that I was wearing this. I made the same swallowing motion, my nerves prickling all over my body. Seriously, why did I care so much about his opinion? It was Lance, I hated him. We just needed to get through this day, then all the afternoon tutor sessions. And in no time we’ll be done with each other. 

 

 "Nothing." He said, then smirked at me, "Nice outfit." He put the car in reverse pulling out of the driveway.


	6. Obligation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith has no idea how to react to Lance's comment, let alone trying to deal with him picking him up.

I had no idea how to respond to Lance’s sudden comment. Was his comment supposed to make me feel good? Did it even matter what he thought about my outfit? Could he have been the sole purpose to why I even felt the need to change things up with my look? 

 

I fluttered my eyelids in disbelief still trying to figure out how I wanted to play out his comment. Seriously though, why was this so important? Did I actually want Lance to like me? 

 

My mind went haywire at the thought, I thought it almost short circuited for a second there before, "Sure, whatever." came out of my mouth. 

 

A low groan came out as I regretted the answer while looking out the car window on my side. 

 

I was actually surprised when I noticed that Lance was driving the speed limit. My mind went to yesterday’s joyride. Sure, he was definitely going to get us both killed but that joyride was the most suspense I’d ever had during my three years in high school. It also felt kind of good to do this behind Shiro’s back knowing that he’d be furious with me if he ever found out. 

 

"Soo…" I opened my mouth, Lance humming at the attention. 

 

"Sup, Kogane?" He asked, blue eyes focused on the road, one hand on the steering wheel like driving was a second nature for him. 

 

"Why did you pick me up? I already had a ride….besides we're not even...." I tried to continue telling him that we weren’t friends, and that him picking me up was weird. Except I didn’t really find it that weird after some thought letting my voice go low. 

 

Lance made a thinking face, his upper lip shooting to the side. "I guess I saw it as an obligation." He smiled, proud of that answer. 

 

That didn’t answer anything. How the hell was driving me to school an obligation, like I was homework or a science project. I was a human being, not an object. I will not be objectified by this jerk ass. 

 

"An obligation? How so…?" I eyed him, my arms crossing in anger. 

 

"Hey, don’t make that face, Kogane. I didn’t mean anything bad by it…per se." He said, taking a hard left turn, his drifting skills in action again. I could feel a low tumble turning in my stomach. 

 

I wasn’t making a face. How did he even know that the face I was making was one he’d know I usually made when I was furious? He didn’t know me. 

 

"You’re the principal’s son. It’s like we’re doing each other a favour." He started. I felt my eyebrows shoot up in curiosity, urging him to go on. This sounded interesting.

 

"Well…I’d get on the principal’s good side if I hung out with his son. Maybe he’d pay less attention to my…stunts at school." He ventured, taking another hard turn. I felt my body sway close to him, forcing my body to stop before any contact was made. 

 

"Okay…but how does this benefit me. I have to be with you, that’s not a favour." I said grimly. 

 

Lance just chuckled at the comment like what I said was a lie. It wasn’t.

 

"What!? You like hitching a ride with daddy principal?" He exclaimed. 

 

I felt a slight tug in my throat at his question. Did I like riding with Adam every day? We’ve been doing this since I started high school. It was just practical. They didn’t need to use money on buying me a car. It was just a natural decision that I felt like I had no arguments against since I hated taking the bus. 

 

"I guess." I answered him, a slight hesitation finding my voice. 

 

Lance was quiet when we reached a stop sign. When he started driving again he said, "I don’t believe you one second about that. Don’t you care about what the other students say about you behind your back? I’ve heard some things…" He stopped, a flash of pain finding his eyes. _Why did he even care?_ He continued. "That you’re the school’s pet, the teachers’ golden boy. You get easily pushed around but you don’t even see it, Kogane. This is senior year! The rumors about you being a pushover will spread as soon as you get accepted into college. You deserve to be seen as your own person. Not the principal’s son."

 

Anger found my voice now. "But this is who I am! I _am_ the teachers’ pet. I _am_ the school’s golden boy, I can’t change that not after it’s stuck the last three years. I don’t mind it."

 

"Horse shit. You know what you are, Kogane? You’re nothing. That’s what you are if you don’t do anything about it. No one at school really notices you. They don’t see _you._ All they see is good grades, a quiet nerd and the principal’s son. Don’t you want to be remembered at GP as who you really are?" He asked, pretty stern with his question. I could see both his hands were gripping the steering wheel, quite hard too. 

 

It baffled me that this was going on in head. Why did he care at all? He just started at GP. He was such a confusing guy. 

 

"And who is that, oh great wise one? Since you seem to have _all_ the answers…" I breathed out, noticing we were nearing the school and how hot the car became. I could feel the sweat building up on my neck. 

 

Lance took the chance to catch my stare. His blue eyes turned into the sea, drowning me. "I can’t help you there, Kogane. That’s something you’re gonna have to figure out on your own. I just thought I’d give you that little push because apparently no one else has yet. I see potential." He smirked, his sea green eyes calming the storm that was built up inside me. 

 

"But why? Even after the harsh words I gave you yesterday about us not being friends…and that I don’t want anything to do with you? You still wiggle your way in with…with all of this!" Both my hands went up into the air gesturing to, well nothing. It was for dramatic effect.

 

The school made it’s view and Lance took a turn to find a space in the vast parking lot. He was full of surprises when his parallel parking was done so smoothly. 

 

He pulled the brake, then turned to look at me. His eyes back to serious mode, they unnerved me. I sat completely still. His gaze went to my eyes then down to my outfit again. I felt like I was being judged. "Obligation." He simply said, then smiled before he said, "And your outfit tells me something else, Kogane. Soon enough…Soon enough.." He whispered the last words when he opened his door. 

 

"Lance, wait!" I shouted, my hand finding his bomber jacket to pull him back into the car. He made a low yelp at the yank but did as so, giving me a weird look. 

 

"If you’re going to start giving me rides..we need to make some ground rules. Since we’re not…we’re not friends. And like I said yesterday, we don’t want anything to do with each other’s personal lives." I said. 

 

" _You_ said that. I never said anything of the like. But okay, go on." He sat back into the car, my gaze went to the clock, we still had twenty minutes until first bell. He was punctual.

 

I still had to land the bomb that I was going to be his tutor from today, but it could still wait. If we made an agreement now, then maybe him finding out I was his tutor would ease the blow. 

 

"We should have a pen and paper, but whip out your phone." I commanded. His phone was out in seconds, his look telling me to get on with this. 

 

" **Rule number 1** : We are not friends." I stated, we were just two dudes who had a driving agreement. I could maybe pay for gas to make this more official. 

 

"Fine." He growled, like it made him angry every time I said we weren’t friends. 

 

" **Rule number 2** : We don’t talk to each other in class." We had gone the first week without talking and my life was normal. As soon as we started talking to each other, all hell broke loose. I didn’t need more problems piling up on me before college. 

 

"What if we get paired up on projects and stuff like that. What if we become lab partners? We’d have to talk to each other. Unless you know sign language." He teased. I just shook my head. But I did know sign language, Shiro forced it on me when I was younger because Aunt Rosa, Adam’s sister, is deaf. But, I decided to spring that fact on him later. 

 

"Whatever, we’ll see if that happens. I doubt it though." I clicked my tongue before going on. " **Rule number 3:** No talk, absolutely no talk about our personal lives." I pointed out with a harsh tone. He didn’t need to know about my life, and I didn’t need to know much about his. Not that I cared.

 

Lance cocked an eyebrow. "That sort of goes hand in hand with the no friends rule…" He did have a point there, but it was crucial to be a separate rule. 

 

"Whatever. It’s its own rule. You ever want to know something personal about me, forget it."

 

"Fine, whatever. You have a boring life anyways." He shot out. He knew nothing. 

 

" **Last rule:** no more bullying. No more comments on my stupid clothes, or that I’m the teachers pet or a nerd. Think about what you told me earlier about the other students saying the exact same things about me behind my back. You’re just like them." I said, but he didn’t look sad about it. In fact, he was smiling. 

 

"Yeah, but I’m different." He simply said, opening his door again avoiding my gaze. 

 

I opened my door following suit, but just a couple steps behind him. Not because he has long legs and walked faster. I didn’t want to be seen walking with him, completely different. 

 

When we got into the school we were met with long white hair flying past us; his sinister smile turning into a blinding smirk, his icy blue eyes attacking us. Lotor.

 

He didn’t even give us two thoughts when him and his posse walked past us. He always looked good. Wearing a white crisp shirt and a deep blue blazer to complement his light brown complexion. Gods, I hated that guy. 

 

"I hate that guy." I heard Lance say at the same time as me. 

 

We caught each other’s stare. I puffed out a nasally breath. "At least we agree on something." I smiled.

 

"Who the hell does that guy think he is anyways, the president?" Lance asked as we made our way to our lockers.

 

Lance’s locker was three doors down my own. He wounded up leaning against the one next to mine while I found my books for class. "He _is_ the president, Lance. He’s the student body president so he pretty much decides everything for the students here at GP. I’d recommend to not get on his bad side. He can be pretty evil if he wants to."

 

"You fucking serious? That jack hole decides everything here…how did he land that title anyway? Seems like someone nobody likes." Lance crossed his arms looking begrudgingly at the blue lockers on the other side of the hall. 

 

"He landed the title freshman year. He’s super persuasive, and he intimidates everyone. So every year before elections are meant to be held, he walks into all of the classrooms with his stupid _Kova_ group and asks them personally if anyone wants to run against him. No one has had the guts yet. We haven’t had an election in three years. Kind of incredible if you ask me." I breathed out, shutting the locker door with a low bang. 

 

I caught Lance wearing a thinking stare. Was he trying to scheme something? _Oh gods_ , I hoped not. I should have just kept my mouth shut. "Lance…don’t do anything stupid. Come on, class is starting in five." I pulled on his dark blue shirt. 

 

"Keeeeith, only nerds find their seats five minutes before class starts." Lance sounded annoyed behind me. 

 

But he still decided to go after me, even after the whining.


	7. Nerd

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Their new agreement sort of gets kicked to the side during English

English was one of my favorite classes, but only because the subject itself was interesting not who taught the class. Miss Honerva could be a stuck up, grumpy old witch, Adam's words not mine, but she knew her stuff. She was standing by the board trying to talk about metaphors used in one of the books we had to read for today. I had luckily already read the book a while ago, but a reread was much in need, and I enjoyed finding details in the book that I hadn’t noticed from my first read. 

 

Miss Honerva got busy with one of the students not paying attention as a finger tapped my shoulder. I craned my neck to see a long, slender, tan finger that belonged to no one other than my new chauffeur. "What?" I said in a whispered shout, trying to see if Miss Honerva was still arguing with the student. She was, her arms waving in the air, fingers pointed to the board then the book. 

 

"I’m bored." He pouted. 

 

Seriously, why did he have to always sit next to me in class? Couldn't he bug someone else for a change, he had to see me everyday anyways. Ever since yesterday, Lance has sat next to me in all of our classes. I knew he had other friends, but he was deliberately sitting next to me, and for no good reason too. I thought I made it crystal clear that we weren’t going to be friends. 

 

"Not my fault. Now stop bugging me. Rule number 2, McClain." I went back to my paper, reading through it. 

 

"Okay class. Now that we’ve gone through some of the metaphors found in these chapters. I want you to go in pairs and discuss your own findings. Just pick the person next to you." She waved her hand at us, then pointed a strict finger at the same student she argued with. 

 

All the students had found their partners pretty fast. No one asked if they wanted to sit with me. I felt a spike in my chest at how right Lance’s word were becoming. I guess I was nothing. The thought dissolved when a head full of chestnut hair caught my gaze. 

 

"Guess we have to break rule number 2. But rules are meant to be broken, huh?" Lance joked, readying his paper. He did the assignment. But he was a delinquent. They don’t do homework, do they? My prejudices were making their way to my thoughts, I shook them off. This wasn’t one of the subjects he needed tutoring in, but his paper could still be bad. 

 

"I guess so. Let’s trade papers, read through them then compare notes. Sound good?" I asked, flinging my paper to him. 

 

A large tan hand, littered with rings, took my paper. "Sure thing, poindexter." He smirked, handing me his paper. 

 

As my eyes traced his words. I looked at his hand writing, it was no doubt he was the one who wrote the poem Adam read out loud last night. A smile crept onto my face at how beautifully written the poem was. I remembered that I had pulled it out of my coat pocket and put it into Adam’s leather jacket. Not for any specific reason, I knew I couldn’t read it, but it felt like a good luck charm keeping it close.

 

The poem dissolved in my mind, and I went back to reading Lance’s paper. He had pointed out so many different metaphors used in the book. I thought I had found a lot, but he was perceptive. His writing was also really good. If I were teacher I would give him an A. This was spotless, he pointed out so many different details from the book, I felt like rereading it for a third time. 

 

I had to laugh out loud. "What?" Lance asked, eyeing me at my sudden laugh. 

 

"You’re a nerd." I exclaimed happily.

 

I know I said no bullying, but this was the truth. Lance was definitely a nerd, an English nerd at the least. It just slipped out. "Sorry, it slipped out. It’s really good. You found a lot of great metaphors." I waved his paper in his face, a smile tracing my lips. 

 

He squinted at me, not liking the slippage. "I….Keith Kogane," He snatched his paper from my hand, "am not a nerd! You take that back. Remember rule number four." He said, but a smile found his face regardless, mirroring me. 

 

"I didn’t think delinquents were nerds. You should go light a cherry bomb in the toilet before the whole school finds out." I teased, but regretted giving him the idea. 

 

Lance clapped his hands lightly, like he did a job well done. "Already beat you to it."

 

"Wait what?" I asked, cocking my head to the side.

 

Right on cue, the speaker crinkled. I heard Adam’s voice, "Can Mr. McClain come to the principal’s office?"

 

"McClain. Get." Miss Honvera nodded her head to the door, wearing a glum look. 

 

My eyes grew big as Lance planted his hands on his desk rising to leave. He gave me a teasing smile, then winked a blue-green eye at me. _He didn’t,_ I thought.

 

"Don’t give me that look, Kogane. At least you get some peace and quiet now." He waved on his way out, slamming the door after him. 

 

"Take a five minute break." Miss Honerva said. The class spread out, talking to each other.

 

A couple students came to me to comment on my outfit, which caused a bigger commotion than I had anticipated because everyone surrounded me now to get a good look at my choice of wardrobe. 

 

Comments like: _You look great! Awesome shirt! Hey, daddy’s not dressing you anymore. Way to go!,_ rang in my head, but I could feel a light flutter in my heart. A pang also made it’s way to my insides since one of the reasons I changed my wardrobe was because of Lance, _probably_ , and he wasn’t here to gloat about the praises I was getting. 

 

Once everyone was finished commenting on my wardrobe, I took the opportunity to snoop in Lance's backpack. _I know_. Snooping is wrong, but I wanted to see if he was carrying any more of those poems. In English, preferably. I found the notebook he was writing in during detention yesterday. I flipped through it, finding pages on pages filled with scribbled words. As I flipped through, I finally found a page with English writing. It was formed like song lyrics. I saw the words _ref._ and _vers._ were used. These _were_ song lyrics. I read through them quickly, not knowing when Lance could show up. 

 

The lyrics were beautiful. It was like a melancholic love song. One that could easily be heard while looking sad out the car window like you were in a music video. I needed more. I continued flipping through the notebook and found more English lyrics. I flung my phone out and took a couple pictures of the songs he had written. Not to as leverage, maybe. But just to read them again later. I never would have taken Lance as a songwriter, but he could have fit the profession. He certainly did look the part. 

 

I saw Lance’s brown head through the door’s window and rushed his notebook back in his backpack. He didn’t suspect a thing. 

 

"Did you really light a cherry bomb in the toilet?" I asked, my voice shaky. 

 

Lance cocked a brow, shaking his head. "Rule number three, Kogane. No interference in personal lives. So if you ask daddy principal what we talked about, I’m going to rip your fucking rules to shreds and demand a personal fact about you. Got it?" He said, scaring me almost. Sitting next to me was a true delinquent and I would not get on his bad side. I swallowed at his words, then nodded. 

 

The bell rang, "See you later, Kogane. Don’t break anyone’s hearts, I could see the girls in class staring at you. Must be the outfit." He made a thumbs up, slinging his backpack on one shoulder heading out.


	8. Lunch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance wiggles his way into the gang

When the lunch bell rang, I saw Lance darting to the door, but Miss Allura beat him to it pulling him to the side. She was our history teacher, and I was positive it was about the test we were having on Friday. I decided to pack my backpack slowly to see if I could ease-drop on their conversation. 

 

"Lonce. I’ve noticed you’ve been struggling with the subject. Last week’s test…" She started.

 

"Don’t worry, Lur." Lance said. I could hear a low grunt coming from Miss Allura at the use of the nickname. She hated nicknames. She specifically said on the first day of class that she would only be called Miss Allura. Lance had an exception starting later, but still, have some respect for the teachers. 

 

**"** It’sMiss Allura, Lonce…What do you mean by don’t worry? Are you even studying? You got an F on last week’s test. If this continues, it’ll be bad for your GPA. I just want to make sure you know how affective this can be if you start failing early in the school year." She sounded sad, distressed even. It was clear she was concerned for her students and that made me respect her even more as a teacher. 

 

"I talked to Principal West yesterday, _Miss Allura_. I’m getting a tutor today, one he recommended, and promised would help me not fail. So like I said.." He re-slung his backpack over his shoulder, "Don’t worry." Winking on his way to the door. 

 

Lance caught my stare when I pulled my own backpack on. "Kogane." He said irritably like he knew I was eavesdropping on their conversation. 

 

I ignored his annoyed remark, heading to the cafeteria to find Hunk and Pidge.

 

 

 

"Keith! What’s with the new look? It…damn. It actually suits you." Pidge smirked, attacking her grilled-cheese sandwich. 

 

"Thanks, I felt a change was needed. It’s my senior year and all. I think I’m done being invisible." I said, searching the hall for Hunk. 

 

I pierced a piece of tomato in my salad that Shiro made me. The juices bursted in my mouth creating a delicious moan coming from my throat. 

 

"Calm down, Kogane. I know I’m hot, but we’re at a public place. Leave your moaning for the bedroom." I heard a familiar voice behind me, choking on the tomato.

 

"Hey, I’m Lance. Hunk invited me to sit with you guys." Lance smiled brightly when he caught Pidge’s tiny hand. 

 

"I’m Katie, but you can call me Pidge. Hunk told us last night that you’d sit with us." She smiled back, then smirked at me because I had totally forgotten he was going to sit with us. 

 

"Aren’t you going to eat anything?" I pointed out, noticing he only had a diet coke on the table in front of him. 

 

"Don’t have an appetite. The smoking…" He informed, but stopped talking at my annoyed stare. 

 

I didn’t want to go all mother on him, but smoking was so stupid. Shiro had made it quite clear to me when I was younger what smoking did to a person’s body. But, Lance had to make that decision on his own. If he wanted to ruin his body by smoking, be my guest. I felt sorry for whoever was kissing that mouth.

 

That lasted a whole two seconds when I said, "You have to quit. Smoking is bad for you. You know you can get cancer. It destroys your lungs, your teeth, you fingers get all yellow. You have bad breath…" Lance shot a large hand in my face before I could go on with the list. 

 

His hand was warm when it hit my face. I swatted it away, making an angry glare at him. "I mean it. If you’re going to sit with us then you have to eat a decent lunch, and put away the smokes." I said, and saw Pidge nodding along, agreeing with me. She hated the cancer sticks, too. Probably even more because her father had been diagnosed with cancer because of them, but was able to beat it in the nick of time. 

 

"They’re so bad for you, man. You might think you look cool smoking them, but no one is thinking that." Pidge said, matter of factly. Glaring at the tan boy, a striking gleam in her honey eyes when she caught his stare, her short strawberry-blonde hair bouncing like _yeah, you know I'm right._

 

"Fine, fine. I’ll eat something. You guys are worse than my parents." He mumbled getting up to buy a decent meal, his hips bumping hard to the side all sassy. Watching him getting up caused a pleasant flurry in my stomach. I took a long sip of my coke. 

 

"Hey guys. Where’s Lance?" Hunk was carrying two trays with food. You would have thought it was a buffet for our table, but no, it was his lunch. 

 

He started stuffing his face with his buffet when Lance came back with a tuna sandwich and an apple on the tray. "Happy?" He glared at me and Pidge. 

 

"It’s a start." She smiled. 

 

"Yeah, if you’re gonna make-out with the chicas behind the bleachers, you’re gonna have to quit. Bad breath sucks when sucking face." I said. But, I had no idea. I’d never kissed anyone before, but I could only imagine. 

 

"How would you know?" Lance read my mind. I just crossed my arms ignoring his question. 

 

Hunk shot in, changing the subject. "So, Lance. Do you game?" He asked, inhaling a burger. 

 

"Lance doesn’t game. He’s not a nerd like us." I interjected, stuffing the rest of my salad in my mouth. 

 

Lance tilted his head all the way to the side giving me an incredulous look that said y _ou know nothing of my personal life_. That was true. 

 

"I game. League? PUBG? Apex?" He listed, and I was surprised he knew some of the popular titles. 

 

"Awesome, we’ll add you to our Discord later." Hunk said happily. 

 

Pidge finished her lunch and whipped out her DS ignoring our conversation. Lance’s ocean eyes twinkled at Pidge’s DS and made his way to sit next to her to discuss her game. Guess he did like gaming. I felt a hard tug in my gut like something was wrong, Lance was getting more and more involved in my personal life and it didn’t feel all that bad. It actually felt, natural. But it was still a pain in the ass. 

 

"Hey, Keith." I heard someone behind me. 

 

"Ryan, hey man. Sup?" I asked. Ryan Kinkade was like one of the most popular kids here at GP, what was he doing talking to me? 

 

"Just wanted to know where you got your shirt. It looked cool, I’ve trying to find one similar." He smiled brightly, his teeth blinding me against his dark skin. 

 

"I’m not sure. I borrowed it. But the tag might let us know." I said, trying to pull the tag out, but it was more difficult than I thought. 

 

"Here, don’t mind me." I heard Lance's voice behind me, then I felt his hand on my neck causing every single hair on my body to rise straight up. My eyes grew wide at the sudden touch of skin on skin, but no one reacted to me. 

 

" _Topman_. It says here. I think they have one at the mall." Lance smiled, his hand still resting on my bare neck. Please remove it, and quick. I could feel my whole body shiver beneath the touch. Not good. 

 

"Hey thanks, dude. Catch you later, Keith." Ryan smiled. But I was too shocked to smile back since there was a tan hand still resting on my neck. 

 

I took the chance to swat his hand away. "Lance! Let me know when you decide to grope me." I yelled at him. Pidge and Hunk laughed at our bickering. 

 

"So, League after school?" Hunk asked. 

 

Lance rested his long legs on the table, being impolite as always. "No can do, my man. We have detention, then I have a hot date with my tutor." Lance grinned, resting his hands behind his neck. 

 

This was nothing to be proud of. Detentions are written on to your records. I made an exasperated noise, fisting a hand ready to pound the stupid tan boy. 

 

"A hot date, huh. Wouldn’t be so sure about that." Pidge teased, her honey eyes going back to her game before giving me a quick wink. 

 

I made new groan. 

 

"Oy, McClain." Jimmy Connolly shouted behind our table. 

 

What was it with everyone coming to our table. We were always ignored. Was Lance a fucking magnet or something? I glared at Lance to take this conversation outside the cafeteria. He ignore me, the douche. 

 

"Sup, Connolly?" Lance asked, legs still perched on the table, hands still rested on his neck, not having care in the world like he owned the place.

 

"Nah, was just wondering why you were hanging out with these losers? Thought you wanted to climb up the ranks." He sneered, his yellow teeth upsetting my stomach. How was being friends with Jimmy better than sitting with us was my question, but I kept quiet. 

 

Lance’s legs fell to the floor. He dragged his sleeves up, revealing sun-kissed skin. No tattoos, my suspicions were confirmed. He stood in front of Jimmy, towering over the short punk. His arms were crossed, his forearms going muscular. He looked super intimidating, I was terrified what was going to happen next. 

 

"Oh my god! You think hanging out with Keith, Hunk and Pidge is worse than being around you? Seriously, Connolly. I just hung around you to gather all the dirt I needed. Now that I’ve got enough, you’re no longer needed, you’re actually on the bottom now. I’ve climbed the ranks, all the way to the tippity-top. I’ve got a lot of great shit on you, right here on my phone. Now get, oh and you should quit smoking. That shit hurts your lungs, apparently." Lance grinned at us, but his smile faltered when he took in our shocked stares. 

 

Jimmy left in an angered state, almost like he looked scared shitless by our newest lunch table member. "What? Nobody disses who I choose to hang out with. Lancey Lance decides who is worth his time." He pointed to himself, that dorky, blinding smile appearing on his tan face. 

 

_ Who the hell was this guy?  _

 

"What the hell was that, Lance!? You made Jimmy scared shitless. No one, and I mean no one talks smack at Jimmy Connolly." Pidge exclaimed almost flinging her DS on the other side of the hall. 

 

"Yeah. I made a comment once about his cooking in Home Ec., then it got to him, he gave me swirlies all year." Hunk informed, reliving the painful memory. 

 

"Dude, that was pretty tight." I patted a hand on his shoulder, remembering we weren’t friends drawing my hand back. 

 

Lance smirked. "First rule when starting a new school. Know who the enemies are, then you befriend them. You know the saying: Keep your friends close,"

 

"but your enemies closer. You’re a genius." I suddenly said, surprised by my own words.

 

Lance laughed out loud, hitting my back a couple times.  "Sure am, Kogane. Let my tutor know that and I might get out of it." He smiled. 

 

"So, when Jimmy took me _under his wing_. His words not mine.» Lance rolled his eyes. «I got all the dirty deeds I needed on him." Lance’s legs were back on the table, but he was living on the wild side almost falling off the table. "No one messes with Lancey-Lance or his friends." He fell off the table, a loud thud coming from him slamming the floor. 

 

We all burst out in a loud laugh, Lance’s face going red but smiling along with us. He steered a blue gaze at me. "So you do have a sense of humor under that concrete face of yours, Kogane."


	9. Tutor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance is ready for his hot date...with his tutor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHO NEEDS AN ELECTION WHEN YOU HAVE PERFECTION

Before Mr. Coran could give us any homework, the final bell rang. Everyone rushed to grab their backpacks, running out of the classroom before he assigned them any torture work. 

 

"You can run, but you can’t hide." He called at the students rushing out of the classroom, his large mustache twitching with rage. 

 

"Kogane, McClain. I have some information to share with you from our very own principal." Mr. Coran said in a voice like he was important talking with Adam of all people. He could have talked to the mailman and it’d feel the same. 

 

Lance and I looked at him waiting for his information. I knew what it was about, but decided to let him tell us. "Your detention today will be happening in the library. As Mr. McClain will be tutored. Your detention session will be ongoing along with the tutor session. Use the time given wisely, no cracking jokes, no stalling. Study." Mr. Coran eyed Lance, but smiled at me since he knew I was the tutor. 

 

"Sure, sure. Tell Adam thank you very much. Do you need to chaperone us to the library or are we free to leave?" I asked sarcastically, hearing Lance snicker next to me. A smile traced my lips on their own. 

 

Lance followed me out of the classroom, walking in step with me when we reached the hall. "You need tutoring too, man? Guess you’re not as smart as I thought you were. Can’t wait to meet the tutor. Adam said he was a real piece. I hope he meant it as a hot piece of cake or something, but a guy can only dream."

 

We reached the library. It was like any other school library. Aisles on aisles of bookshelves filling the large room. Tables smacked between the shelves for students to study or read. Posters everywhere filling the walls with different book-released teasers or school-related information like homecoming coming up or the school election. I caught a poster of Lotor pointing his finger with the words: _Who needs an election when you have perfection_. Cringe. 

 

We found a free table all the way in the back where no one could disturb us. Just the way I liked it. Lance was looking around trying to scope out our tutor. Here goes nothing. 

 

"You know you were hoping for a hot piece?" I asked, he nodded vigorously. 

 

"Well hate to be of disappointment." I sat down pulling out our history books. I tried to make it as anticlimactic as possible, but Lance was Lance. 

 

"You!? You’re my tutor? For fuck’s sake man. Couldn’t you have just told me yesterday instead of having me hoping for a hot piece of ass." I made a grim look at his stupid comment. 

 

"Hey, not that I’m not disappointed." He smirked, a heat finding my cheeks. 

 

"Well that’s a relief." I said sarcastically urging him to find his books. 

 

He pulled out his books, eyeing his notebook. "Did you look at my notebook, Kogane?" He asked me, holding it up in the air. 

 

The heat that found my cheeks doubled its temperature, burning me now. "W-what notebook? The one you’re holding? Never seen it in my life." I stuttered, but tried very hard to keep my cool. 

 

Lance shrugged his shoulders opening his history book, a large groan making its way out of his mouth. "Fuck, I hate history. Like, what’s the point? It’s already happened…" He leaned on the chair. I grabbed his arm and pulled him down before he landed on the floor again. 

 

"History is important because it has an affect on our future. What not to do, learn about how people lived before our time. How certain figures thought, so on and so forth. It’s interesting." I said, finding the notes for Friday’s test. 

 

"Whatever you say, poindexter." Lance said, giving our textbook the finger. Seriously, so immature.

 

I handed him a spread sheet which Miss Allura gave us that had the page numbers we had to read, and what we should study closer on. Lance groaned even louder when I handed him the paper, grabbing it half heartedly. The look on his face told me it wasn’t long until he’d rip it to shreds. I pulled it out of his hand, putting it gently on the table in front of him pointing to the first point. 

 

After a while of studying, and helping him remember some important names and dates, he huffed out a low roar. "Oh my god, we need a break, Kogane. My mind is turning into mush."

 

"Fine. ten minutes. We still have forty minutes left of detention." I reminded him. 

 

He started tapping his fingers on the table looking at nothing in particular. "Sooo, maybe we should rethink our rules."

 

"What, why?" I furrowed my brows, putting my pencil down on the table. 

 

"Because we’re going to spend even more time together. We can’t avoid getting to know each other. I think rule number three should be abolished." He suggested, it shocked me that he knew what the word abolished meant. 

 

"No, absolutely not. Even if we’re going to be spending a lot of time together, we can still avoid talking about personal things. Instead of making small talk from time to time, we’ll just focus solely on the subject. The sooner you get better, the sooner I don’t need to tutor you and we can go back to not knowing each other." I reassured him. 

 

"But we have mutual friends. Can’t avoid each other with that." He grinned his stupid sly smile. Fuck, I hated him so much. 

 

"They were my friends first. You can make new friends, don’t you have the whole school in the palm of your hand? Why do you need my friends?" I crossed my arms, sustaining from grabbing my pencil to jab his eye out. 

 

"I like them. You’re stuck with me, Kogane. Don’t worry. _We_ don’t need to be friends. We’ll just tolerate each other. Sound good?" He went back to the books, a smile finding his face. 

 

"Fine. But the rules we made this morning still apply. Alright, let’s focus on some of your problem areas." I started looking at the spread sheet. 

 

"Excuse me. Lance doesn’t have any problem areas. Have you seen my face?" He interjected, bobbing his head side to side, flashing me a wide toothy smile. 

 

_Ignore him, ignore him, ignore him._

 

We had twenty minutes left, and time was ticking slowly. Lance had lost all focus when a girl sat down across from us on the large table. He had begun flirting with her ignoring everything that had to do with the test. 

 

"Lance! Can you please focus? I won’t be let off the hook if you don’t pass this fucking test. You need to get at least a C- on this test and we only have two days." I quietly shouted at him, dragging on his shirt to look at me and not the girl. 

 

He gave me an exasperated look, but I shot a hand in his face, while I looked at the girl sitting across us. "Hey, could you like go sit somewhere else? He’s not interested in you, only your body. He told me before you sat down. Do you want to be objectified by this sleeze-bag? You’re better than that." I told the girl, my hands still fighting with Lance’s face. I heard muffled swearing under my hand. 

 

The girl got up wearing an angry face at Lance, then nodded her head as a thank you to me. I smiled back but made a yelp when I felt Lance licking the back of my hand. "Gross!" I pulled my hand back, wiping it on Lance’s shirt. 

 

"Thanks a lot, man. That would have been a nice afternoon snack for me, but you had to ruin it." He crossed his arms, flinging the spread sheet on the floor. "I’m done, Kogane. No more studying today, please?" He pleaded. 

 

We had ten minutes left, I guess we could call it quits today. "But you have to promise me to study more tomorrow. I’ll reward you if you know the answers to ten of the twenty questions on the sheet." I had no idea what I was going to reward him with, but I hoped the plan worked. 

 

"Okay, I want to take you shopping tomorrow if I can answer all _twenty_ of the questions." He negotiated. 

 

"What!?" I shouted. 

 

"Shhhhhh!!!" The librarian shushed us from afar. 

 

"What do you mean shopping? For what?" I asked, his blue eyes pinning me in my chair. 

 

"For a brand new wardrobe, duh. It’s obvious what you’re wearing is borrowed. You had no idea where you got your shirt. I assume daddy principal had a hand in help with today’s upgrade." He smiled slyly, pointing a long finger up and down at my outfit. 

 

He was obviously right. I was also contemplating what to wear tomorrow, thinking today was enough change for a lifetime. Shiro would be so mad at me going against him, but he needed to know that I could take care of myself. I could make my own decisions. 

 

"Deal. You get all twenty questions right, I’ll let you pick out my new wardrobe." He grabbed my hand in agreement. Our handshake lingered as my hand took in the hard calluses of his palm. Did he play anything or work out? My mind drifted when Lance finally released our hold. 

 

"Let’s get our study on, Mullet!" Lance suddenly sounded all motivated. The hell happened, our deal turned into some kind of energy boost for him.

 

"But detention was over five minutes ago. We can go home if we want to Lance." I said, looking at my phone. 

 

"How about one more hour?" Lance asked, eyes trailing the spread sheet, a serious face finding him. 

 

I sent a text to Adam letting him know we would stay an extra hour. "Sure, it’s your torture, not mine." I chuckled. 


	10. 20/20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance might have been doing some studying..

School flew by today. You could say it sped as fast as Lance drove this morning. I was still having having flashes from this morning of almost dying turn after turn. 

 

Tutoring Lance yesterday went better than expected, but I figured it was the deal that sparked his sudden motivation to study. Adam and Shiro bombarded me with questions when Lance dropped me off by the curb of my house last night. 

 

"So, did the delinquent actually do his homework?" Shiro had asked me last night. He really had no taste for Lance. It kind of aggravated me because he hadn’t even met the guy, let alone seen him. He could at least give him a chance, he didn’t have to listen to all of my hate comments. I was a teenager. I was allowed to say that I hated him, the hate we had for each other was mutual so it was okay for us to act like children. Shiro was a grown up man with a husband and two kids. 

 

"Honey, Keith is a model student, and your son. I’m sure Lance got some studying in, right?" Adam asked, choosing my side. 

 

For some reason, it kind of irked me how much Adam was taking Lance’s side. I really wanted to know if Lance had some dirt on him, or if they had cut some sort of deal. They were both too suspicious. Not only that, I still didn’t know why Lance was called to Adam’s office during class yesterday. I was going to get to the bottom of this. 

 

They stopped asking me questions when I told them that Lance promised he was going to get a 20/20 on the spread sheet today. Shiro said he wanted evidence if that actually happened. Ruby was cute as always, but she asked questions too about Lance. Shiro’s nosiness was rubbing too hard on her. 

 

Lance and I were back in the library. No detention today, thank the gods. He actually behaved in all of our classes today. He even followed rule number two; no talking in class. Although, I did miss him bugging me a bit. Class was boring when his mouth was shut. 

 

"Alright, McClain. Let’s see what you got. I’ll give you thirty minutes to answer the twenty questions then I’ll correct them. If you get them all right…"

 

"When I get them all right, we leave this dump then go shopping." He interfered. 

 

I breathed out annoyingly giving him the test and a pencil turning the timer on my phone. "Now." I said, then found my book to read in while he took the test.

 

At certain times, I stole glances at him to see if he was struggling with any of the questions. He had his tongue stuck out, his pencil flying on the paper with long answers. I cocked a brow at the detail he was putting into his answers. Maybe he wasn’t lying, or he just really wanted to go shopping. What was his deal? Shopping with me had to be the most boring thing ever. He had to have some sort of evil scheme up his sleeve. 

 

"Done!" He slammed his pencil down on the table looking proud of himself when I held his test. 

 

I started correcting him, making impressed sounds for each questions. I made it to question fifteen and he had answered all of them correctly till now. I was hoping he’d answered the rest correctly too, because I didn’t want to go home yet. I knew Shiro would interrogate me as soon as I walked through the door. I got to question twenty and shockingly, Lance had answered everything correctly, even with detailed answers, enough to get a passing grade at least. I made an impressed look. 

 

"Thought I didn’t have it in me, Kogane. Well, booyah.20/20." He gestured his hands to his test, making finger guns. 

 

I fished a red pen out of my back pack. Lance’s look told me he was scared that he actually got a question wrong, but I just wanted to freak him out a bit. A large 20/20 was marked in red when I handed him his test back. A wide toothy smile tugging at his lips when he took the piece of paper. 

 

"Want to get out of here?" He asked. 

 

"Sure. But first I need to take a picture of your test." I whipped my phone out of my pocket, taking a picture of his test. That’ll show Shiro. 

 

Lance ran for the library’s exit shouting _Seeyah bitches, we’re going_ s _hopping_ , ignoring the librarian shushing him. I made an apologetic look her way, groaning at what an imbecile he could be.

 

*_*

 

"I look like a grunge artist. Oh my god, I look like Kurt Cobain. Shiro’s going to kill me if I come home looking like this, Lance." I pulled the curtain open to show him the outfit he picked out for me. 

 

The black jeans were full of holes. Not just the knees but everywhere, I could even feel a large hole on my butt. The t-shirt he found was long and tattered at the hem. He then found a large black leather jacket for me to try on. It did not suit me at all. Someone was bound to arrest me if they saw me on the sidewalk looking like this. 

 

"Can we please go a bit more subtle. You can pull these looks off, but not me." I pleaded, but he shook his head rapidly. 

 

"Nope, you look really good, Kogane. You just can’t see it yet. The grungy look was made for you. Here try this jacket on, it might not make you look like you’re drowning in metal music." Lance chuckled at his stupid joke. 

 

He handed me a red leather jacket this time. It was smaller, and shorter. I slung it on. It fit perfectly on me, feeling snug in all the right places. I turned around to see what Lance thought, his mouth was hanging open when he met my stare. I wasn’t sure what he thought. 

 

"Well?" I made a 360 degree circle, showcasing the jacket like a model. 

 

Lance shut his mouth. Standing up to look around the shop for something. "Here we are. Try these, I think they’d go great with the jacket." He smiled brightly. 

 

He handed me a pair of black fingerless, leather gloves.I shrugged and pulled them on. "Perfect. You look perfec. Uhh...your outfit looks perfect." He rushly said, dragging me to look in the mirror. 

 

The jacket and gloves were perfect. I needed them. "Dayum, I actually look pretty good." I said, checking myself out in the mirror. It was like looking at a different person. Unbelievable how clothes can alter a person so much. 

 

I turned around to face Lance. He gave me a weird stare, which I mirrored because I was thinking about doing something inappropriate but was saved. 

 

"Hey guys! Woah, Keith, you look great in that jacket. You gonna get it?" Pidge and Hunk finally came. We called them to join us when we drove to the mall. 

 

We both faced them forgetting the moment we had. "Yeah! Look at these gloves too. Lance found them." I showed Pidge and Hunk. 

 

I paid for the clothes we found in this shop. Lucky for me, I had a lot of birthday money saved up. The leather jacket wounded up being really expensive. What surprised me right when I was going to pay the guy at the counter, was when Lance grabbed the gloves buying them for me. I told him he didn’t need to but he insisted. I wasn’t sure how to respond or make him stop. 

 

"Thanks, man…for the gloves. I’ll wear them every day." I told Lance, feeling my stomach doing a backflip or ten. He was supposed to be my enemy, and here we were, acting like friends. This wasn’t how things were supposed to go down between us. 

 

"No biggie. I saw how expensive the jacket was. Thought I’d spare you some angry daddy time at home." He said, looking around the mall. He spotted two girls chatting by a fountain, darting to them. 

 

"What’s with the grim look, Keith? You got some sweet clothes. I think Ruby’s going to love them." Hunk said, pulling me in to his side. He followed my stare that was looking at Lance chatting up the two girls by the fountain. They were laughing now, probably at some stupid snarky comment or joke Lance said about himself. I made a new angry stare. 

 

"Do I sense some jealousy, Keith?" Hunk whispered in my ear. 

 

I pushed him off of me, trying to laugh off his comment. "Hell no. I hate him." I changed the subject, "Thanks for coming today, I think we’d kill each other if you and Pidge hadn’t show. He’s always on my nerves."

 

"Sure, _on your nerves_. No problem, want to get some food? I’m starving." Hunk said, always the muncher. 

 

"Lance! We’re getting food, go find Pidge, she’s probably lost in the gaming section." I yelled at him, hoping I interrupted him talking to the annoying girls who were smiling at him. 

 

"Ladies. My peers await." He bowed like a stupid gentleman from a Jane Austin movie grabbing a small piece of paper that looked like a phone number. 

 

"Come on." I growled, dragging on to Hunk's vest to pull him with me to the food court.

 

Lance drove me home after our trip at the mall. The car ride was somewhat quiet. 

 

I finally spoke up. "Hey. Thanks for today. Also good job on studying for the test. Do you feel ready for it tomorrow?" I asked, trying to make conversation to ease off any awkward tension. 

 

"No problemo. Any excuse to get out of the house. Parents can be tiring, am I right? I feel ready. Do some more studying tonight, look over your notes before I go to sleep. I think I got this. If not, you’re treating me to some consolidating ice cream." He said, blue eyes on the road following the speed limit for once. 

 

2And if you ace it?»"I asked, hoping we would still go out for ice cream. 

 

"Then it’s my treat." He lightly pounded my shoulder, parking by the curb. 

 

"See tomorrow morning, Lance. Please be on time, you know how punctual I like to be. Especially since we have the test first period."

 

"All the more reason to be late, Kogane. Night. Say hi to your folks, give Shiro a punch in the face from me." Lance joked, then zoomed off when I closed the door. 

 

In the house, I was met with Ruby crying a storm. "What’s going on!?" I yelled through Ruby’s screaming. 

 

Adam was holding her close to him, trying to give her soothing words or shushing her. He looked at me pleading for any kind of help. I wondered where Shiro was. "Takashi’s still at work, I had to pick up Ruby today." Adam yelled while Ruby started sobbing, her crying dying down a little when she saw me.

 

Adam picking up Ruby was always a bad idea. He would take her to stores Shiro knew she shouldn’t go, like the pet store. I bet all my spent money he took her to the pet store. 

 

"Adam…" I put my hands on my hips, shopping bags bumping my thigh. 

 

Adam’s glasses glint in the light, his brown eyes avoiding my gaze. "I didn’t think she’d go this crazy." He admitted. 

 

"I WANT A PUPPY!!!! WAHHHHHH!!!!" Ruby bellowed, hitting her little hands on Adam’s chest, her crocodile tears streaming down her face. 

 

I understood Adam’s situation. If my child was that cute, she would have ended up with ten puppies instead of one. Lucky for us, we had Shiro in our family, so the puppy count was at the meantime, nada.

 

"Ruby, want to see what your big brother got you?" I smiled, dropping my shopping bags to find the stuffed animal I got her. 

 

Adam sighed a big sigh of relief, nodding a thank you in my direction. I pulled out a dinosaur plush that looked like a purple sparkly t-rex. Ruby was in a dinosaur phase, but she was such a girl where everything had to be either in pink or purple. Her dark brown eyes gleamed through her tears, but she wiped them quickly away when she spotted the t-rex, pushing at Adam’s chest to put her down. 

 

I waved the t-rex in her direction as she ran to grab it, giving me a big hug. Some people thought we were blood-related siblings, given that her complexion was as light as my own and that we both had some hint of an Asian descent. Her a bit more so than mine as she was adopted from Korea, and my mother was half-Korean. What told us often apart was our eyes. Hers was a deep, chocolate brown while mine were more black than brown with a hint of blue in them that almost turned purple in the right lighting. I never thought of Ruby as an adoptive sister though, she was and will always be my little sister. 

 

"Thanks, Keef." She smiled widely, her cute little face melting my heart. 

 

The puppy was completely forgotten when she lifted the t-rex up to her face, sparkling in the light, before pulling it in for a squishy hug. "That’ll keep her busy for the rest of the day." Adam patted my shoulder looking down at the shopping bags. 

 

"Shopping was a success? Did the guys help pick anything out?" He asked, wearing a smug face. Seriously, there's like nothing to be smug about. 

 

I told Adam everything, scratch that, not exactly everything but most of everything. I told him about the deal I made with Lance, that if he could land a 20/20 on his mock test, he could take me shopping. Adam thought he was hilarious when he called it a date. I threw a pillow at him pretending it was an axe to his face. A date with Lance? Come on, I’d rather sing naked in front of an audience than go on a date with that self absorbed dingus. 

 

"I’m home. Guys!?" We heard Shiro from the front door. 

 

Adam shot a quick glance at Ruby cuddling on the couch with her new stuffed animal. I could see the wishing that she’d focus on showing Shiro the t-rex and not talk about him taking her to the pet shop today. My mouth curled when I started gesticulating, quickly signing,: _You’re screwed if she opens her mouth._

 

Adam mostly glared at me signing back, _I can take care of Takashi, I married him didn’t I?_

 

_"_ What do you mean, _you can take care of me?_ What did you? _"_ Shiro said, catching Adam in the act of signing. He face-palmed his head trying to come up with something to tell his husband that did not include the words, pet or puppy in it. 

 

Before he could open his mouth, Shiro grabbed the shopping bags I left on the floor rummaging through them without my consent. My hand shot to the bags, pulling them out of his hands, my brows furrowing annoyingly at him. 

 

"What? I can’t see what you bought?" Shiro furrowed his own black brows at me, challenging me with a grim look. He was such a strict parent, I had always wondered what made him this way. Before the accident, he was always loose and cool, but now…

 

"Sorry. My hand grabbed it on its own, I think I’m just scared you’re not going to like what I bought." I pulled out the red leather jacket, holding it up for everyone to see. Hopefully, the jacket would suffice and I could run up the stairs with the rest of my new wardrobe before Shiro went all fashion police on me. 

 

Shiro made an impressed look, steering his gaze to Adam to show his appreciation to the new look I was diving into. Adam smiled back to his husband. «Put it on, Keith. We need to see how it looks on you.» 

 

I felt like a little kid again. Whenever we went to the mall when I was younger, Adam and Shiro loved it when I played dress up putting on different stylish clothes. They would always fight on who had the best fashion taste, but I couldn’t be the judge of that. I was only ten at the time and clothes shopping was the most boring thing in the world. Except for today. Today was a good day, it made me want to go to the mall again and buy even more clothes, but my wallet told me otherwise. Lucky for me, my birthday was coming up. 

 

The jacket felt as snug as it did when I tried it on at the mall. "You look good. Did you pick it out, or Lance?" Adam asked, then his mouth made an O-shape forgetting that Shiro didn’t know I went out with Lance today. He was still pretty guarded when it came to Lance. 

 

"You went shopping with that delinquent? I thought you were only tutoring him! No wonder you wounded up with a gangbanger jacket. Unacceptable." Shiro shook his head, storming into the kitchen probably to make dinner. Cooking always calmed him down. 

 

"Ignore him. He’s always overdramatic."  _Like Lance,_ I thought, a ghost of a smile finding my face. 

 

"I heard that!" Shiro yelled from the kitchen. " _I heard that, too!"_ Ruby mimicked from the living room. 

 

"Go to your room, put your clothes in the closet. I bet you got a pretty neat wardrobe that screams Keith." Adam nodded to the stairs, grabbing my bags and giving them to me. 

 

Shiro’s words were forgotten when the bags found my hand and Adam gave me a reassuring smile that he’d deal with him when he’s calmed down. We didn’t need a repeat of last night’s dinner, so tiring. 

 

"Sure.2 I started going up the stairs until Adam called my name again. 

 

"I’m glad that you’re doing this Keith. You need to find your own person, you’ve been under Shiro’s control long enough. You’re growing up, and he can’t let that go…" Adam left for the kitchen, leaving me with his words remaining in my head. 


	11. Vanilla

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance gets his history test back...

It had been almost a whole week since we took the history test. We were back in Allura’s history period and I chanced a look at Lance to see if he were nervous to get the test back. He had to get at least a C- to get a passing grade on this test. It surprised me when I had both of my fingers crossed for him. I guess I was just hoping my tutoring payed off, and that I could be off the hook sooner than expected. Still, the last week tutoring Lance had gone better than I thought it would. I want to blame it on our drives to and from school since we were able to chat a bit more with each other, getting to know each other on a more formal level. Also, I was able to tolerate him more too every time I learned a new annoying thing about him that I could divert before it happening in the future. 

 

"Alright. I bet you’re all anxious to get the test back. I’ve corrected them and will hand them out to you. Rest assure most of you did a good job, some of you even shocked me. I had to take a double take that I was correcting the right test." Miss Allura smiled brightly, holding a stack of tests in her dark hands ready to hand them out. 

 

My chanced glance at Lance showed me a tan boy, sitting or better yet, slouching almost off his chair stripping a pencil with his teeth. That’s not good for his perfect white teeth, I thought but the thought disappeared when Miss Allura slapped my test on my desk, her delicate and perfectly manicured hand landing gently on my shoulder, a nod of approval finding my face.

 

The test on my desk was of no importance. All I could think about was who was going to treat who to ice cream after school today. Adam knew about the deal we made and handed me a twenty for us to spend so none of us had to treat the other, but still, if he failed I wanted to use my own money since I would genuinely feel bad for the guy. He had studied so much for the test, even landing the 20/20 on the mock test he took. 

 

Miss Allura handed Lance his test. He had one eye closed, not daring to touch the piece of paper like it were a large tarantula ready to attack him. His sea-green eyes caught mine. The look was one I was used to when I tutored him, it was one of despair, a look that rarely showed up on Lance’s face but he really had to do well on this test, it had been bugging him all week. Trust me, he wouldn’t shut up about it, I had to think of something else to talk about and that was painful enough because he wanted to know how many Pokemon I was able to list up by memory. There are so many Pokemon, I could only list up like fifty from the first generation, he wasn’t impressed at all and started listing up all the Pokemon he knew of, even listing the ones from other generations. At least his mind was somewhere else at the time. 

 

I shot Lance a look that said _get on with it already._ He smacked his lips a couple times then flipped the paper over a look of shock on his face. _What did he get? What did he get??_

 

_What did you get!?_ I almost signed, but mouthed it at him, hoping Miss Allura was too busy handing out tests to catch us conversing. 

 

Lance was three desks behind me. Lacey and Carol were giving us bored looks moving to the side so that we could see each other. A brilliant smile curled on Lance’s face, making my insides warm a bit. He held the paper up showing me a bright red C+ scrawled on to it. My lips mirrored his curled smile. I gave him a gloved thumbs up. 

 

"Boys! Celebrate after class, we need to go through the test now." Miss Allura said but in a gentle tone, grinning at us. 

 

As soon as the bell rang, we both darted out of the classroom shoving our books in our lockers. "Looks like you have some magic in you, Mullet. You were able to make history fun. The most boring subject in the world, fun!" Lance grinned, slapping my back. 

 

"Say that again, Mr McClain and I can pull that test out of your hand and fail you right here." Miss Allura passed us, her voice terrifying Lance. He actually felt magnetized to the lockers when she walked by with a piercing look, blue eyes sparking a magenta flame. 

 

"Fuck, that woman is not one to mess with." He ran his fingers through his brown hair, then swiped his fingers across his brow wiping away any invisible sweat. 

 

He caught me staring at him dragging at his hair, a jolt of embarrassment passing through me as I shut my locker door a bit harder than expected. "You never learn…" I sighed, dragging on his bomber jacket to head to the car. 

 

"So, your treat?" Lance grinned, his hands finding his neck satisfied with himself. 

 

"That was the deal. Want me to call Pidge and Hunk too?" I asked, holding my phone. 

 

Warmth tingled my fingers when Lance’s hand pushed my hand down shaking his head. "Can it just be the two of us? I feel like we haven’t been able to hang out just the two of us all week. Ever since you mentioned my driving you to and from school, Hunk and Pidge have been tailgating us being on our every move." I arched a black brow at him, "Hey, don’t get me wrong, I love the nerds to death but, sometimes they can be a bit much…I just feel like you and me can talk about other stuff, without the dynamic duo."

 

I tilted my head not knowing where this was coming from. Hunk and Pidge were my closest friends, we did everything together, Lance knew that. If he was going to hang out with us, he had to know that meant the whole gang. Although, I did understand what he was talking about. Our driving agreement had turned into a grade school carpool, picking up Hunk and Pidge before school too. Then there was lunch, our Discord chats and when we hung out at the mall after school. He had a fair point, there was no shaking them loose. 

 

"Sure man, just the two of us. Hey, more ice cream for us." I bumped his shoulder while sending a text to the two leeches that Lance couldn’t drive us home today because of an appointment. Lance made a thank you look my way, almost grabbing at my waist when I felt a hand grazing my hip but it quickly pulled away. 

 

A tug pulled in my gut when Lance didn’t say a word on the drive over to the ice cream parlor in town. It was unlike him to keep his mouth shut. He had just passed the test, he should be ecstatic but all he looked was worried or sad, it was hard to tell, this was a new look. 

 

"Hey, you okay? You passed the test, shouldn’t you be gloating or something?" I asked, catching his blue eyes in the mirror. 

 

His signature smile found his face again, relief steadying my heart-rate. "Thought I’d respect our agreement by not gloating. What, you actually want me to run my mouth for once? Thought you’d be happy with my mouth glued shut for a change." He took a hard left turn, my hand ready to pull on the handle on the car ceiling. 

 

"This is your day, Lance. Gloat away, I will not complain at all. You earned it." Wincing with regret, he began to gloat, a lot. Bragging about how smart he was and how all the chicas are going to be at their knees for him when he showed them his C+. 

 

My ears were clogged up with gloating by the time Lance pulled into the parlor’s parking lot. Lance could tell his gloating had made a number on me, finally shutting up. He opened the door, keeping it open for me to get in. When we stepped inside we were met with a classic diner look. A huge ice cream counter filled with almost a hundred different flavors. Booths in pastel colors of pink, blue and mint green everywhere, surrounded by classical pictures of ice cream and pin-up models from the 40s. It was awesome. 

 

Lance made his way over to the counter, leaning on the glass taking in all the different flavors to choose from. He gave the girl behind the counter a flashy smile before turning to me, "Yo, let me guess your three favorite flavors then you can do me afterwards." He suggested, the words _do me_ creating a hot flurry in my chest. 

 

"Yeah…sure." I said shakily, occupying a booth in a corner for us. 

 

I was on my phone when I heard a thunk on the table. A small, pink see-through bowl filled with three scoops of ice cream, looking cold and delicious, rested in front of me. My mouth was watering, it had been ages since I had ice cream. Shiro would be getting chills if he knew I was eating so much sugar on a week day. 

 

It was my turn to pick out three flavors, something I had to do quick before my ice cream melted. I hated when ice cream was a little bit melted, it tasted so much better when the ice cream could be bitten into not licked. 

 

"Hi! What can I get you?" The blonde haired girl smiled at me, holding an ice cream scooper in her hand. 

 

What kinds of flavors could Lance like? Was he a vanilla guy, or a chocolate guy? Or was he so flamboyant and unpredictable that he would go for a coffee flavor or bubble gum. A green-toned color caught my attention. _Bingo_. 

 

"Could I get one pistachio, one mint chocolate chip and one birthday cake." I grinned, pointing to the three different flavors behind the glass. 

 

Birthday cake was my favorite flavor, which made me want to choose it for Lance so that he could taste the best ice cream flavor ever invented. The other two flavors were wild guesses, but the green color reminded me of his eyes so I went with my gut. Besides, if I chose the wrong flavors, then he could make my favorite his favorite because birthday cake ice cream was fucking delicious. If it were possible, and if Shiro didn’t maim me for it, I would live off the flavor every day. 

 

"Here you are, no need to pay. Your date paid for both of them." The girl said, the blue in her eyes twinkling, a tinge of red finding her cheeks like she found us adorable. 

 

My cheeks were copying her, heat burning them. _He was not my date!_ I wanted to shout in her face, but I was a respectable customer. Did it look like we were on a date? Should I tell her we weren’t on a date, that we actually hated each others guts and that this was just a deal we made?

 

I took the container with the ice cream in it, a large spoon sticking out of it. "Thanks." I said, making my way back to Lance who had eaten half of my ice cream. 

 

"What was the point in guessing our favorite flavors if you’re going to eat all of it!?" I slammed his bowl on the table, dragging it close to me to eat as much of it as he did my ice cream. 

 

"What? I got hungry, and your ice cream was melting. I was only helping, and you were coming back with more so don’t be mad at me. Enjoy your ice cream, Mullet." Lance took another bite of my ice cream. Teasing with me, a hum of delight coming from him when the spoon made its way into his mouth. 

 

I glared at him, eating the pistachio and the mint chocolate chip scoops until there was hardly anything left. When the bowls were equal with ice cream, I made the switch. My eyes caught the flavors, Lance had chosen three scoops of vanilla. "Vanilla!? Do you think my taste buds are that boring, Lance?" I asked, but noticed one of the scoops was actually birthday cake, just now noticing the colors of the rainbow sprinkled vanilla goodness. 

 

"I chose right though, huh? Vanilla bean, French vanilla and Birthday cake. I’m guessing the last one is your favorite because birthday cake is my favorite, and I have the best taste." Lance grabbed at the bowl with ice cream I picked out for him, digging into what was left, more hums of delight coming from his throat. 

 

His favorite taste was Birthday cake too? Granted, the flavor was created for everyone to love, I couldn’t be the only one who liked it. But for Lance to say it was his favorite flavor too, kind of bugged me. 

 

"So, was I right, or was I right?" He asked, wiping his bowl all clean with his tongue like a kitten. Please stop. 

 

A groan escaped my throat. Vanilla flavors were my favorite. Chocolate was fucking disgusting, sherbet ice creams were the epidemic to all ice cream sorts. Choosing vanilla flavors were just safe, they tasted good no matter what type you chose. 

 

I savored the last spoon of Birthday cake in my mouth before I said, "Fine! Yes, you chose well. I like vanilla flavors, and Birthday Cake is my favorite flavor too. That’s why I got it for you too in case you had never tasted it before. I thought you’d find a new favorite flavor but guess we both like the same kind of ice cream."

 

"That’ll make it easier when we have movie nights." Lance said low, I hardly caught what he said. 

 

"What?"

 

"Nothing! This was fun, let’s ask each other some other favorites." He said, getting up to buy more ice cream. 

 

I didn’t get a chance to tell him no as he quickly made his way back to the counter pointing out more ice cream he wanted to eat. In an aggravated state, I got up to stand next to him. "Go back to the booth, I’m getting enough ice cream for the both of us." Lance said, but I waved him off pulling out my wallet with the twenty Adam gave me. 

 

I handed the girl the twenty, she grabbed it with a happy face. "You guys make such a cute couple." She commented, giving back my change.

 

"Aren’t we? It’s our one month anniversary. Babe here loves his ice cream, we had our first date here." Lance said, pretending we were a couple dragging me close to him with his arm slung over my shoulder. 

 

"The look on your face was priceless, Kogane!" Lance giggled, wiggling his way in our booth taking a new bite of our ice cream. We both got huge scoops of birthday cake, naturally. 

 

It wasn’t my place to push him aside when he joked with the girl behind the counter so I had to just go along with what he told her by grabbing his hand slung over my shoulder, trying hard to look all lovey-dovey at him but I almost gagged. My whole body was shaking in rage at the moment, but it was luckily over when my tongue tasted birthday cake. 

 

"Get on with your stupid questions, McClain." I urged him. He was the one who wanted to know our different favorites. He thought it was a fun idea to see if we had any other common favorites, something I went along with since it technically didn’t violate any of the rules we made. These weren’t personal, to the amount of not talking about home at least. 

 

"Let’s start with movie, mine’s _Titanic_ but I love _Night of the living dead_ too, I can’t choose between the two." Lance started. 

 

"Hope you mean the Romero version from 1968. Mine’s _Inception_." I said, taking a large bite of my ice cream. 

 

" _Inception_! Ooooh that’s a good one too. TV-show?"

 

" _Brooklynn 99_ , Color?" I said, he nodded his head at me agreeing. Nothing beat that show. 

 

Lance made a quick glance at my jacket when he said, his eyes turning into an iridescent blue in the parlor’s fluorescent light, "At the moment, red." He smiled, "Yours?"

 

I stared at the specks of green floating in his irises when I said, "Easy, green." His left brow cocked opening his mouth until I interjected with, "Game?" 

 

" _Bioshock: Infinite_ , Elizabeth is so bae." He said, definitely thinking about said fictional character. I couldn’t blame him. 

 

"Mine’s _Final Fantasy VII"_

 

"Wait! Can I go back on my last answer and choose that one instead, that's such a good game! Why are you taking all of the good answers?" Lance pouted, acting like a big baby again. 

 

"Because I have good taste. Don’t be glum, you have good taste too." I air-planed a spoon full of ice cream, landing it in my mouth making a hum of delight. "Got any more?" I asked with my mouth full of ice cream. 

 

Lance chuckled, "Book? I have hundreds to choose from, but I always end up rereading _Carry On_ by Rainbow Rowell."

 

My mouth hung open, ice cream melted on my tongue. "What!? That _Harry Potter_ knock-off that’s basically fan fiction?? I like that one too…." I confessed. Simon and Baz were awesome characters and their story was really good. The last 150 pages or so were always my favorite that I would wind up rereading them from time to time whenever I needed sustenance. 

 

"But my favorite has to be _The Sun is also a Star_." I then said a bit embarrassed. It was clearly a girl’s novel, but the story gripped me from page one. I finished it in a couple hours feeling in awe with the story. 

 

"That’s a good one too. How about Band or Artist? I’m obsessed with Marina at the moment. I can’t get _Baby_ or _Froot_ out of my head." He almost shouted, singing at some of the lyrics to _Froot_. 

 

His singing caught my ears making my whole spine tingle with pleasure. It was like listening to your new favorite song for the first time. He was that good, but I kept that to myself. "I don’t know. When I game, I listen to heavy metal music to get in the killing mood, but when I take a walk or study, I like listening to calmer music, more pop music like Marina or Charlie Puth, Shawn Mendes, Vampire Weekend." I smiled, then asked, "Favorite food?"

 

"Easy, my Abuela’s tamales. Could eat a whole truck of them." His mouth watered a bit.

 

"Wipe your drool, McClain." I threw a napkin at him, "Yeah, mine has to be Adam’s paella, could eat a whole house full of it." My stomach rumbled even though we just threw two bowls of ice cream in our bodies. 

 

"Let’s see…favorite scent? Could that be vanilla too?" Lance teased, but he was right, so I nodded it off letting him know it was right.

 

"I love the scent of flowers or freshly mowed grass. Anything that screams nature, like a camp fire, I love it." He said, surprising me. I loved the outdoors too, the scent of Lavenders used to be my favorite scent, but it brought back hurtful memories whenever the scent touched my nose.

 

"I’m going to violate rule number 3 a bit. Hope that’s okay? But…your favorite memory?" Lance asked, looking out the window not wanting to catch me flip off at him for trying to invade my personal life. 

 

We were in the moment, "It’s a tie between going to Disneyland when I was eleven or hearing Ruby say my name for the first time." I smiled reliving the memory of Ruby saying _Keef_ when she was a year old. 

 

"Ooooh, online sweetheart, I get it." Lance guessed. 

 

"Nope, little sister. She’s five." I showed him a picture on my phone of Rubes. 

 

"She’s adorable! I bet you’re the best big brother ever." Lance commented, a tinge of heat finding my cheeks. 

 

"What’s yours?" I asked, turning my phone off. 

 

Lance made a pained look, "Has to be cooking dinner with my Abuela. She loved having me in the kitchen, teaching me how to make different Cuban dishes while we sang our favorite songs together." He looked at the empty bowls when he said, "She died when I was fourteen. I held her hand in the hospital before she died, promising her I’d keep on singing when she left. She was my favorite person in the whole world." It took a lot in me to not hold his hand right then and there, but I remembered he was Lance McClain, GP’s delinquent and not my friend. My hand stood still. 

 

"I’m sorry. She sounded like a great grandma." I tried to cheer him up. 

 

"It’s alright. Three years might seem like enough time to grieve, but she’ll always be a part of me. Sorry, this is getting too personal, show me another photo of Ruby. Please??" He begged and I couldn’t say no when I swiped through my gallery with pictures of my little sister. 

 

"Can I ask when she was adopted?" Lance knew I had two dads, so he was probably curious about the process of adopting a kid from a different country. 

 

"She was a couple months old. My dads went to Korea to get her. I remember like it was yesterday when they came home with her. They had been struggling with the process for a long time, when the agency called, they were ecstatic. She was so tiny when I held her." The memory popped in my head. 

 

"Are you adopted, Keith? Did Adam adopt you or, well since you don’t call him dad at school…" Lance’s voice went low, uncertain if he should have asked that question. 

 

"My dads adopted me when I was eight. It was a hard battle. They fought in court for close to a year before the judge decided I could be adopted by them…it’s not something I like to talk about…" I told him hoping we could drop this conversation. 

 

"Sure, sure. How ’bout we get some more ice cream then race each other to see who can finish it all before the other one gets a brain freeze." Lance suggested. 

 

"You’re on, McClain." I challenged, our previous conversation completely forgotten. 


	12. Partner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time for some dissecting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the kind comments from the last chapter. I had a lot of fun writing that chapter. I don't know if the next chapters will be as fun or cute, but I hope you still want to follow the story. :) Thanks for reading!

I was as tired as a soccer mom with six kids when first period rolled around. Ruby had been a nightmare this morning. She was crying a new storm with more kicking and screaming than before, yelling for a puppy again. I wasn’t noted about this morning’s forecast so when I made my way down the stairs, I swear my ears were bleeding at her screeching screams. 

 

It wasn’t Adam’s fault this time. A kid at her daycare had told her they got a new puppy, her jealousy skyrocketing asking all evening yesterday if we could get one too. Shiro being the strict parent, took her to the living room this morning explaining to her how much work and responsibility a puppy would be. He really thought his words would make their way through to a five year old, well, think again. 

 

Ruby had recently turned five, but the kid was smarter than she looked. She had a sly smirk on her face deciding on dragging me in to this fight. Ruby’s argument was that I could help her take care of the puppy because she meant that I wanted one too. Which wasn’t all wrong, but I was old enough to know that Shiro would say no on the spot. Her face was priceless when she caught my stare from the kitchen pleading for me to back her up. Why did five year olds have to look so innocent and cute? 

 

Unfortunately, it was a hard no from Shiro. Adam wasn’t pleased with the outcome of Ruby becoming tens times louder than she was at first. For the first time ever, he left to go to work early. He never left early. You would have thought that the principle of a school was usually the first one to arrive, not with Adam, he always took his sweet, sweet time. Except for today that is. 

 

«Rough morning?» Lance tapped my shoulder, waking me up in my drowsy state. 

 

The science lab came into view when I remembered we were at school, and about to get assigned lab partners for the classic _dissecting a frog_ project. Gag. I hated anything to do with guts, or cutting; or guts, or cutting. It creeped the hell out of me. Mrs. Holt, Pidge’s mother, was our science teacher. The resemblance to her daughter was uncanny. Pidge was like a younger, shorter human clone of Mrs. Holt, with the same strawberry blonde hair, and honey-colored eyes. With Mrs. Holt, you wouldn’t find a more passionate soul about the disgusting. Pidge on the other hand, she hated everything to do with the disgusting and avoided talking about it whenever she had the opportunity. Mrs. Holt during class though, she could talk a storm off about insides, organs, plants, bugs, diseases, yeah, you get the picture. 

 

Mrs. Holt became a blur when Lance waved a brown hand in front of my face. «What?» I whispered, but remembered he had asked me about my morning, an apologetic tug reaching my mouth. «Sorry, Ruby was impossible this morning. She was screaming about wanting a puppy again. Kid never learns that no means no.»

 

«Or, she’s a genius, and begs until she finally gets one. Parents hate annoying kids. I bet there’ll be a puppy in your house within the next two weeks.» Lance proposed, lifting a perfectly arched brow.

 

«Alright class. Now that I’ve explained the process of dissection, let’s pair you up.» Mrs. Holt hummed pleasantly, finding a jar full of names in it. 

 

«Bet you everything I own, and my soul that you and me are getting paired up.» Lance elbowed my stomach, a giggle leaving my mouth. 

 

«What’s with all these bets? You win the lottery or something and need to spend the money on ridiculous bets. Besides, what would the chances be for us to get paired. We’re already sitting next to each other. People who already sit next to each other never get paired. Trust me on this. Although, know this McClain. Your soul will be mine for the taking, are willing to bet on it?» I wiggled my fingers like a mad scientist ready to pick his brains. A distasteful grin found my lips at the thought of picking brains, ugh, wrong choice of analogy. 

 

«James and Cindy, Ryan and Laurel, Matthew and Jack, Mary and Ina, Lance and…» Both Lance and I inched our heads bit further to get a better audio of who it was, «Keith…» 

 

Lance made a winning gesture with his arm when Mrs. Holt called out my name. His soul would remain un-reaped, for the meantime. All our names were finally called, and we were to go find the tools to use to dissect our froggy friends. As Mrs. Holt liked to call our dead amphibians. 

 

Lance sprinted to the back of the class to find our tool kit, sprinting back in no time causing my cowlick to all _whoosh._ Lance’s description, not mine. «Ready to cut some toad? I feel like a witch.» He chuckled, acting like a little kid poking the dead frog on our table. «I’m Jiminy, and I died by hopping to far off the pond…» Lance voiced the dead frog thinking he was hilarious. 

 

«You know Jiminiy was a cricket, not a frog. Didn’t you ever see _Pinocchio_?» I said, zipping open the toolkit. 

 

In the toolkit, we found a scalpel, pliers, cotton swabs, tiny scissors, tweezers. My eyes squinted at the sudden glint of how sharp the scalpel looked uncapped, the sharp tip threatening to come at me. Everything around me became hazy, my body began to sway on its own, my heart-beat becoming the only thing I could hear in my head. 

 

«Keith?» Lance’s hand shaking my shoulder brought me back. 

 

«Sorry, I think I dozed off again.» I lied, closing the toolkit to block out the scalpel from my mind. 

 

«You squeamish or something? You can cover your eyes while I do the cutting, no judging from Lancey-Lance. Scout’s honor.» Lance suggested by making the scouts honor sign, putting on a white apron and pulling on pink rubber gloves. 

 

His look told me to do the same, handing me a new apron and rubber gloves. I did as told, grabbing the items to put on. My double gloved hands smacked my cheeks a couple time to help me man up. This frog was toast, or he was already dead but you get the idea. 

 

«It’s alright. I got this.» I said in a cocky tone, forcing myself to grab the scalpel. 

 

When my fingers gripped the scalpel’s handle, I felt bile reaching my throat. This was not the time to get squeamish or to panic. It was just a very small, very sharp knife. It could not hurt me, not when I was the one holding it, I reassured myself. 

 

The memory I always forced away from my mind started to reappear as I neared the scalpel to our slimy friend’s stomach. I could see her hand raised, holding the jagged piece of glass in her hand ready to strike. The scalpel fell out of my hand, a low clang sounding close to us. «Sorry, slippery fingers.» I told the table, but Lance heard me making a low grunt to get on with it. If only he knew how hard this was for me. 

 

I took a deep breath. The deepest one I took in my entire life. Lance had no idea how long it had been since I had held something this sharp in my hand, let alone be this close to something that could make an incision of some sort. My hand gripped the scalpel again. I looked at Lance to tell him that I was doing fine, this was a piece of cake. Except it wasn’t. My hand was shaking when it made its way back to the frogs’s stomach. This time I forced my hand to get closer, to make the incision, screaming in my head that I could do this. One cut, that’s all it took. _Do it Keith, push it in._ It went in, bile found my throat again. 

 

I pushed Lance aside to run out of the classroom to find a bathroom to throw up in. The bile that urged its way up my throat was asking to come out. «Keith!?» I passed Adam on the way to the boy’s bathroom. 

 

All the contents of my stomach spilled out of my mouth when I finally reached a toilet. Gag noises were coming from my throat, offering to make a new heave. _So_ _close._ I was so close to facing my fear, but the memory got in the way. Her face got in the way. 

 

My reflection in the bathroom mirror revealed how tired I looked. Large bags under my dark eyes, my bangs more ruffled than usual, my black sleeves were either pulled all the way down or half way up my arms. My hand went to my scar. A finger traced the rough, pink line moving from the top of my cheek, then all the way down to my neck. Pain shot through my face, almost like I was reliving the memory all over again. It felt too real. What did they call it, phantom pain? I wasn’t sure, but it felt like my cheek was being cut up all over again when I held the scalpel. 

 

«Keith?» I heard two voices from the bathroom door. 

 

Adam and Lance were both wearing distressed looks when they caught my eyes in the mirror. «I’m fine. Just got squeamish when the knife hit his stomach.» I said in the mirror, catching Lance’s blue eyes, electric specks of green shimmering at me with worry. 

 

«Knife? Keith…are you sure you’re okay?» Adam asked, coming closer. 

 

I threw the paper towel in the trash after washing my hands and mouth. «It was nothing, Adam. We were going to dissect a frog, I was doing the cut and got sick. Nothing more.» I put an emphasis on the more, shooting my brows at where Lance was standing hoping he took the hint. 

 

«Right. I saw you running and got worried. Go back to class, Mrs. Holt is probably worried. I’ll see you at home.» Adam pulled me in for a typical dad hug, «We’ll talk about this later.» He whispered in my ear before releasing me. 

 

«Lance you take care of my son, got it?» Adam ordered our fellow delinquent. 

 

«Roger that, daddy principal.» Lance made a military salute with his brown hand, winking at Adam. Not wise to test our principal Lance, you’re on thin ice already. 

 

Down the hall, Lance was looking glum, his hands resting in his jeans pockets not wanting to catch my stare while I tried to chat. «Lance, what’s wrong? Nothing serious happened. I was just squeamish.» I said, assuring him. 

 

His look told me he didn’t believe me, but he had to respect our agreement, «Rule number 3, McClain. It was nothing, and if it were, no personal talk. You know that. Now suck it up, we have to go through who you want to write about for our history report. I made a nice frame for you to follow. If you choose a historical figure that they made a movie about, we can watch the movie.» I tried to steer the conversation away from my sharp objects problem. He took the bait, that flashy smile of his coming back. Thank the gods. 

 

«Did they make a movie about that one hot chick, Joan something?» He had his thinking cap on. Seriously, did he know nothing about world history? Whatever went on in his head was definitely not things of the past that’s for sure. 

 

«You mean, Jeanne d’Arc?» 

 

«That’s the one, so?» 

 

«Yeah, we can watch _The Messenger_ with Milla Jovovich. Can I make comments about how historically inaccurate the movie is?» I asked, hoping it would cheer him up. 

 

«Hell yes, Kogane. Let’s watch it at Pidge’s place they have a 75’ screen. Ooooh mama, watching a hot babe like Milla hacking and slashing non-vampires, me likey.» Lance rubbed his hands together, preparing for a feast. 

 

«You’re unbelievable, you know that.» I pointed out, and not as a compliment, but guess what. 

 

«Coming from you, I believe it.» He chuckled, holding the door open for me when we reached the science lab. 

 

«Good, you’re back. I hope you’re alright Keith.» Mrs. Holt held back anything she knew about me, looking at Lance then back to me. 

 

«I’m fine, Mrs. H. Just got squeamish is all. Lance will take care of the cutting from now on.» She smiled her calming smile whenever Pidge and I made up after a meaningless argument we always had. 

 

«Yeah, Mrs. H. Keith can count on me, he just told me how unbelievable I was.» Lance’s teeth blinded the whole class when he said that out loud.

 

«You’re never gonna let that one go, are you?» I groaned. 


	13. Candidate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance does something stupid....

A new week sped on. My tutoring sessions with Lance this week could be compared to a seesaw. We had our up and down days. Some days Lance would be as cooperative as Ruby would be if we asked her to take a bath, or go to bed. Others, Lance would surprise me with a new feat about himself, proving how smart he really was. Because that boy is so smart, that sometimes I have to check and see if he’s faking it. 

 

We both had agreed on that algebra was certainly not his thing, but calculus though, and at college level mind you, child’s play for Lance. I could give him the simplest of algebra equations and he’d be scratching his head the whole hour. Calculous on the other hand, he would solve the equations in minutes, seconds. There was a genius hidden somewhere in that obnoxious, narcissistic, self absorbed brain of his. He needed to work with something within the field of science, I had to tell him that.

 

This morning before Lance came to pick me up, I told Adam about how smart he was in calculous and if he had any recommended colleges he could apply for within the field of science. Adam held a finger to his mouth while we sat at the breakfast table, Ruby digging into her honey and oatmeal porridge, me eating a new piece of buttered toast. Still thinking, Adam’s brown eyes shined behind his glasses, «I know one, it’s close to where you want to apply. I can find the information at work and send it to your e-mail.» He said happily, digging into his own oatmeal porridge. 

 

«Keef, why do you talk about Lance all the time? We haven’t even met him yet..» Ruby pouted, oatmeal stuck to the corners of her mouth. 

 

I eyed the little monster, wondering what got her to ask a question like that. I didn’t talk about Lance that much, he just happened to stumble into my mind from time to time. Not my fault he had to be super smart in calculous that led me to asking this certain question. 

 

«Okay, little missy. Don’t tease your big brother. Keith needs to get ready for school. Lance will be here soon right?» Adam asked, wiping away the stuck oatmeal on Ruby’s face. She made a loud unapproved noise at Adam’s wiping, swatting away the washcloth. 

 

«You never know with him. Yesterday he was on the dot, today he could be ten minutes late. We have to wait for the horn.» I informed. 

 

Adam made a grim look. He hated it when Lance went ballistic with his car’s horn. He was afraid the whole neighborhood would wake up and complain to Adam, something Adam found to be devastatingly irritating, talking with the neighbors. Shiro was the star of our neighborhood. Everyone loved stopping him on the street to talk. Adam on the other hand, he would run as fast as an olympic sprinter to avoid small talk with the neighbors. 

 

Right on cue, a loud honk blared into the driveway. «Lance! Its Lance!» Ruby shouted, a squeaky laugh coming out of her little mouth. 

 

He was early, I thought. Earlier than he usually was. Ruby and Shiro were always gone whenever Lance showed up to pick me up, but this morning he had been almost fifteen minutes before his usual pick-up time. Ruby ran to the front door, probably wanting to finally see who she meant was always on my mind. 

 

Adam picked her up, pulling her away from the door. He saved an awkward moment between delinquent and little kid who could call on the boss. We had to get out of here before Shiro was done in the bathroom. 

 

«Don’t have that look, Keith. If you and Lance are going to be friends, Shiro is going to have to meet him eventually.» Adam said, holding Ruby in his arms. She nodded along to his stupid words.

 

«We’re not friends, Adam. I’m just tutoring him.» I said glumly, kissing Ruby on the cheek before opening the door to leave. 

 

I trudged on my black boots and red leather jacket before I met Lance’s blue Ford Fiesta in the driveway. A sudden wave of shock found my face when I thought there was a large grizzly bear sitting in the front seat of Lance’s car. Then I remembered it was Hunk’s week to sit shot-gun. I felt a small pang of hurt in my chest when I knew it wasn’t my turn to sit up front with Lance, there was so much I wanted to talk about.  One was his paper about Jeanne d’Arc. Watching the movie we talked about last week pulled off. He was able to write a decent paper about the historical figure. Given that it could have been because he was a decent writer, and his choice of words made the paper seem better than it was. The content though, could have been adjusted for the better. Still, it was a valid piece, one I think Miss Allura will pass with an alright grade. He’ll be pleased to hear that from me, I hoped. 

 

Hunk’s broad smile blinded me when I made my way to the back seat of the car. When I opened the door, I took in his outfit. He was wearing his usual assorted cargo pants of natural colors, and college sweaters. Today, he had decided to go with beige pants, along with a yellow sweater that had a picture of an animated taco printed on it. Suddenly, I had the urge to eat tacos for lunch today. What caught me off guard when I caught his face was his hair. He had long black hair falling past the lobes of his ears, his bangs always hiding his dark brown eyes. Today, he had a bright orange band wrapped around his head, lifting his bangs up and away from his eyes. It suited him, making a stark contrast with his red-toned skin. 

 

«Morning. Hunk, I like your band. Suits you.» I pointed to the band, the tip of my finger poking the soft fabric.

 

«Glad you noticed my impeccable fashion sense, Mullet. I had the band lying around, wanting to give it to Hunk for a while now. His long ass bangs were irritating me.» Lance patted Hunks shoulder, swerving a hard left reaching Pidge’s house. 

 

«One day, man, You’re going to kill us all.» Hunk made a queasy face. 

 

Lance laughed him off, honking for Pidge to get out. As stated, Pidge’s small figure darted out of her door, waving her parents goodbye. She was wearing a green knitted dress, with layers of socks covering her legs, and a warm fuzzy jeans jacket. Her glasses glinted in the morning sun when she opened the door on her side of the back seat. 

 

«Morning, assholes!» She welcomed herself into the car. 

 

«Alright, the gang’s all here. GP prepare to meet your doom.» Lance said every morning when he gathered the gang. I smiled at his phrase, but tried to remind myself that we still weren’t friends. 

 

*_*

 

Miss Allura was arguing with a student about the historical figure assignment. We were given the period to finish them before submission, something I think Lance would be appreciative for since our past two tutor sessions didn’t turn out beneficial for him. Like I said earlier, Lance was like a seesaw when it came to our tutor sessions. Today felt like one of the down days. He had been lost in thought all throughout Miss Allura’s class. We were allowed to listen to music during class, and I knew Lance would be a goner only focusing on the music than the assignment. 

 

When I turned around during class to check up on him, he had his head in the clouds, bobbing his head to the tunes he was listening to. We were both sitting by the window today. The sun was shining brightly, not a cloud in sight in the vast blue sky. The crisp cold air of September could be seen on the tips of the green grass. Lance was looking out the window, his elbow perched on his desk, head resting in his hand, looking out. His blue eyes were reflected by the sun, green specks floating about in his irises when my gaze caught his to see if he needed help finishing his assignment. 

 

He pulled out his earbuds, «Sup, Mullet? You had a worried look on you. Don’t make that look too much, it’ll give you wrinkles.» The corner of his mouth lifted gently. 

 

My gloved hand went to his desk, tapping on the assignment. «You need to finish it. I read it last night, it’s good but you still need to add some finishing details. Turn off the music, I can help.» I said, pushing away from my desk to turn around in my chair to face him. 

 

«You sure? I thought it sucked…» His head fell down a couple inches, his chestnut colored bangs covering his blue eyes. 

 

«You have an amazing writing skill, Lance. If you write anything on the side…» I stopped up, thinking about the lyrics and poetry he had written, warmth blooming in my chest and continued, «I’d love to read any of it, you know, to give some pointers. But the content is lacking in your assignment…and I think you know that.» 

 

A guttural groan came from the tan boy. «History is so fucking boring.» He chided, giving the assignment a look of pure hatred. 

 

«Lonce, I can hear you. One more cuss and it’s detention.» Miss Allura warned. 

 

I could see it on his face that he was tempted to utter another cuss just to get on Miss Allura’s nerves, but his blue eyes met with mine. «Lay off, Mullet. I wasn’t going to say anything.» He grinned. 

 

Ten minutes until the bell rang. Lance could make it if he picked up his pencil now. «Lance…» I started picking up his pencil to give it to him, but we were all interrupted when the classroom door opened, a group of sharks making their way in. 

 

«Lotor..» Lance and I both uttered angrily, almost like a curse. 

 

The Kova group stood planted firmly in front of the class. Their gazes all dark, grim and intimidating. It was time for the yearly speech of getting out of an election. Standing surrounded by his group, Lotor stood tall, hands planted firmly on his hips sizing up the class. His long platinum blond hair reminded me of a younger version of Lucious Malfoy, Draco’s father in _Harry Potter_ , why not Draco, mostly because his hair rested past his chest, but he also sported a sort of old man attitude. He was wearing a new crisp white shirt tucked neatly into a pair of navy blue suit pants, a black belt in the pants’ loops, shiny black loafers and a navy blue tie to wrap up his whole look. Lance was staring daggers at him, blue eyes summoning an ocean to drown him in. 

 

I caught Lance’s drowning stare to tell him to chill. Lotor was surrounded by his Kova group; Ezor, their rainbow-haired secretary, Acxa, Lotor’s favorite and second in command, Zethrid, their bodyguard, standing planted behind Lotor with her large burly arms crossed ready to fight if any one threatened their president, and finally, Narti, she was a secret, never spoke a single word, she had a look that screamed darkness. There were rumors going around the school that if you ever heard her voice, you’re life flashes before your eyes. I felt a hot flash of prickles in my fingers at the thought, shaking it off. 

 

Lance called the Kova group, _Lotor and his band of misfit Lesbians_ , but if they ever found that out he would be in for a dirty fight. The Kova group looked like they came straight out of a school anime, with their stunning looks and nicely worn uniforms of different lengths of checkered skirts and pristine, white crisp shirts. No one dared to utter a single word at them unless they were being spoken to. 

 

Axca, their second in command. Her dark blue hair made a swishing motion, deep dark blue eyes pinning us with a nod to her head at Lotor to indicate that the class was ready for his speech. He cleared his throat, beaming that white sinister smile, his light brown tanned complexion creating a blinding contrast rotated our way. «Ladies, boys, darling Allura…» He smiled lovingly at our history teacher. Bile threatened to rise again in my throat after the last time it did. We didn’t know what to make of their relationship, but Miss Allura made a gagging gesture towards our student council president and waved a dark hand to get on with it already. 

 

«I gather my fierce Kova group here with me today to inform you all that we near the time of elections. We all know that ever since I became president, elections have been of no necessity. You have all been well happy with me as your president and I urge you all to not nominate anyone to go against me. First of all, because its no use. I have kept this school at its top, giving it my all and more so over the course of three years. Secondly, going against me would be a fight, and a losing one too knowing that I have more than half the school already on my side to vote for me. There is no need of an election, I, Lotor von Gal will give it more than 100% as it is my senior year here at GP. Your wishes for a great school year will reach to me, and I will promise to achieve every single wish that comes into my command. So, I repeat, fellow GP students. No election this year either. Why need an election, when you have perfection.» He sounded out, his sinister white smile blinding us all anew. 

 

The class was quiet when Lotor finished his stupid speech. It was the same ridiculous, over-the-top speech he made every year. No one would’ve nominated anyone if he didn’t make a speech too, we were all too terrified of his band of misfit lesbians. They had their assorted tricks up their sleeves and no one wanted to find out what they were. 

 

Lotor still stood smacked between his Kova group, taking in the students’ looks, scoping out any raised hands, smiling seductively to himself. No hands. _Surprise, surprise._ Can he leave already, no one wants to run against a dick like you, I thought turning around to give Lance an incredulous look. When my face caught the sight of the tan boy, my eyes went up to his hand that was raised in the air. 

 

«Lonce?» Miss Allura called, a tone of curiosity finding her voice. 

 

The hell, was he going to nominate someone? Who? «I want to nominate Keith to run against you as student body president, Loturd.» Lance said with a proud voice, his ocean eyes finding my shocked stare. In that moment, I had lost the ability to blink. 

 

Lotor looked stunned. His mouth hung open, a sheen of sweat finding his perfect face. «How dare…Loturd? And why the hell do you nominate that nobody, he’s the principle’s son for crying out loud!» He ridiculed me in front of the class. 

 

Lance’s smile blinded me but in a way of pure delight, not like Lotor’s stupid smile. «I think he’s like the future of GP. Sure, it’s his last year here too, but he could be the change that we need. He could be the person our underclassmen need to look up to for future presidents at GP.» 

 

My ears were burning at Lance’s words. Me? Student body president? No fucking way, not in a million years. Who gave him the right to do this to me? I wanted this year to be quiet, calm; a year to only focus on getting into my dream college. Not run against fucking Lotor, him and his Kova group will eat me alive. Damn, that sick brown haired, blue eyed devil. I’m going to skin him alive once the motherfucking school bell rings. 

 

Miss Allura made an approving hum, scoping the classroom to see if any one would second or third the nominee. They needed three people to nominate the same person to have a valid candidate. My heart hammered in my chest, praying that no one else raised their hand. 

 

Ryan Kinkade raised his hand. Fuck. «I second the nominee.» He smiled warmly in my direction. 

 

All hate inside of me had to quickly vanish as I gave him a fake smile back. Just as my gaze left his a third hand raised. Who was it now? 

 

«I third the nominee, this could be interesting.» James Griffen’s voice sounded in the classroom, his light brown eyes cocking a challenge at me. Damn him, he was doing this to get back at me for ditching our friendship freshman year. 

 

«Then it’s settled! There will be an election this year! Keith Kogane will run against Lotor von Gal. Exciting, I’ll inform Principal West this moment.» Miss Allura clapped her hands in delight at the same time as the bell finally rang. 

 

Lotor clucked his tongue with hate in my direction, stomping out of the classroom with his Kova group on his tail. His dark blue eyes found mine, a rage of threats telling me to prepare for a nasty fight. I gulped, my whole body going rigid trying to take in what just happened. 

 

After a moment to collect myself, I slammed my palms on Lance’s desk, my dark eyes catching his blue-green ones, «You! Come with me.» I said darkly crooking a half-gloved finger at him. 


	14. Fight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They go at it..

Lance was heavier than I had anticipated as my gloved hand gripped his collar when we made it out to the corridor. Students were flooding the corridors, checking their lockers to find books, indecipherable voices echoing with chatter, my brain was slowly melting due to what had happened in class. 

 

He nominated me for student body president. With Ryan seconding it, then James Griffen, that asshole, sealing the deal. I was going up against Lotor. After three years of peace and quiet, I get dragged into this. Fuck, there’s actually going to be an election, and I have become the main attraction. On second thought, I’ve become a freaking _meal_ because the Kova group will turn me into their main course. 

 

«Ko…gaaaane» Lance shrieked when my gloved hand was still gripping at his blue collar. He was wearing a dark blue sweater with a black vest over it, the material was cottony soft, but I didn’t have time to think about that while I dragged him out to the side of the school’s building then dragging him far, far away. 

 

Strength had found its way to my arms, adrenaline shooting into my blood stream. I pushed him hard against the wall of one of the school’s buildings, pinning him to the wall, my arms trapping him. «Fuck you, McClain!» I shoved a half-gloved finger up in his face,«Why the fuck did you have to do that!? Lotor and his gang of lesbians is going to skin me alive! I’m doomed» I cowered while he was still pinned up against the wall, my gloved hands now ripping at my hair. 

 

Lance took my hands to pull them down. I swatted them away, shooting my gloved hands back up to the wall, trapping him between them again so that he wouldn’t get away. «No! I’m not done with you!» I spat in his face, some spit actually hitting his cheeks. 

 

He flinched when my spittle hit his cheeks, taking one of his hands to wipe away my spit, giving me an incredulous look. «Seriously? You’re actually mad? I was trying to put you in good light! We talked about this at the beginning of the school year, Keith! You need to be noticed, this is your chance!» He was smiling now, showing that he wasn’t mad at me for being mad at him. I was still mad at him, no, I was fucking furious with him. That quiet ember I was keeping calm ever since I met him was finally raging into a full on fire. 

 

My brows furrowed in a tempered anger, something that was beyond my control. «No! No! No! I’m not running against that asshole, you ruined the whole school year for me, Lance. He’s going to ridicule me, turn me into dog meat. I liked being a nobody Lance. I like being invisible. It gave me the chance to stay focused on getting into my dream college, and here you come into my life to ruin everything. Fucking everything!» I screamed, the raging fire going from red to blue in my gut. 

 

His hands had found mine again when I hadn’t realized that I was trying to punch him. As weak as I thought I was, my hand had managed to hit him clear in the jaw, a trickle of blood running down his mouth when my eyes opened up to take in his stunned face. 

 

Rage burned in his blue eyes after my fist had made contact. He pushed me away from him, my body hitting the grass on the ground. That was the last straw. I quickly got up, jumping on to his back ripping at his short brown hair. «Keith! What the fuck man! Get off! Who’s being a big baby now!?» He tried to claw at my back to get me off of him, but my legs were firmly wrapped around his hips, he wouldn’t get me off that easily. 

 

He was screeching when my hands kept on pulling at his hair. Anger was filling my body, my teeth gritting, locking my jaw. He was running in circles, hoping to shake me off of him. Hell no, I was stuck to him like super glue. My feet were still curled around his waist like a little kid sitting down with their legs crossed. «I hate you! I hate you!» I kept on shouting. 

 

«Keith, get off of me! Let’s talk about this!» He still screamed. 

 

We were forgotten by the school. Not a single student could see us fighting. I didn’t know why, must have been because I was able to drag him as far away possible from the students of GP. We were on the far end of the school, where the delinquents usually hung out, but at the moment since the bell had rung for second period, no one was in sight to take in our embracing debacle. 

 

Lance managed to grab hold of my back. He made a cheap trick by tickling me in the ribs. Damn him, that was a sore spot. My screams turned into pained laughs as my legs unwrapped themselves around his waist, his opportunity to fling me back to the ground. 

 

I landed with a loud _oof_ as I felt the impact of the grass. My back jolted in a hot pain, tears threatening to spill at the intensity of the sudden pain. «Keith!» Lance yelled at me, falling down to his knees to be at my level. 

 

On the ground, I was writhing in pain. Holding on to the pained area of my back that hit the ground. It had landed on a large jagged rock when the impact hit me. Tears were burning my face, my eyes keeping closed, teeth wired shut to mask out the pain. «Adam..» I managed to force out, still crying, my jaw going back to being wired. 

 

«Shit, I’m so sorry. Keith...so sorry. Let me carry you to Adam, please. You’re in pain. You were being so fussy, I had to get you off of me.» Lance tried to explained, but the pain was blinding me, my sight going blurry. 

 

«Adam!» I shouted at Lance. My eyes finally opening up to catch Lance’s shocked stare.

 

With the pain still shooting in my body, I tried to suppress it by pressing my hand to my back where the rock hit it. Liquid coated my fingertips, a red color reaching my eyes when I pulled my hand back to my face. 

 

«Fuck, you’re bleeding Keith.» Lance said, still on his knees not caring about the grass staining his light blue jeans. A look of pain was finding his blue eyes, splatters of green floating like crazy in his irises.

 

«We can’t get Adam..I can’t leave you alone..» I heard Lance whisper while he towered over my body, still on his knees a look of distress forming on his tan face.

 

His hands gripped the side of my body, starting to roll me on to my stomach. «Lance! What the hell are you doing, go get Adam, we need help.» I pleaded, pain still shooting while he rolled me over. Uncontrolled gasps escaped my throat while he turned me. 

 

Chills ran up my spine when I felt Lance pulling my black band t-shirt up. I went with a t-shirt of my favorite heavy metal band just to irritate Shiro, now with Lance’s hand feeling up my bare back under it. «Lance!!» I screamed. 

 

«Shut up, Keith. You’re hurt. I’m just going to check the wound to see if you’re cut deep.» He ordered, causing my voice to die down completely when he said the word cut. 

 

My mouth shut closed, Lance’s warm hand sliding up and down my back to feel for the injury. A yelp escaped my throat when he found the wound. «Fuck, Lance..don’t touch me.» 

 

«Calm yo tits, Keith. I know what I’m doing. My mom’s a nurse, she taught me a lot about how to handle wounds or cuts like these.» He assured me, using a calm and collective voice, one of his hands soothing me by stroking it gently down the side of my face. I regretted not telling him to touch me. 

 

His eyes met mine, the green in his irises had calmed down, only leaving the blue of a still ocean. «It’s not deep, but we need to go find Adam. He might have to drive you to a hospital to get it checked, but it doesn’t look that serious.» Lance said, pulling me carefully up to a sitting position. 

 

«Come on.» He said, gesturing to let him carry me. 

 

«Hell no.» I shook my head, my black bangs coated in sweat hitting my eyes. 

 

«It’s either letting me carry you or stay out here screaming in pain for everyone to see you. If you’re going to win against Lotor in the election, you can’t let everyone know what a big baby you are.» He stood tall, looming over my fragile body, fists planted firmly on his hips. 

 

«Fuck, I forgot that I was going against him now. Thanks to _you._ » I said in a disgusted tone. 

 

«You’ll thank me later, Keith.» He said angrily, wiggling his fingers, waiting for the ok from me before he can pick me up. 

 

My bottom lip jutted out in a childish pout, not liking this idea at all. I rolled my eyes at him, then nodded for him to pick me up. It was his fault to begin with that we wounded up out here fighting, landing me on the ground with a fucking rock splitting my back open. 

 

A smile crept on Lance’s face when he crouched down to slide one of arms under my legs, then his other arm between my shoulder blades, careful to not bump into the wound that was cut in the middle of my back. 

 

All cozied up into Lance’s grasp, I felt like a damsel in distress being rescued by a delinquent named Lance. _Kill me now_ , I thought. 

 

The halls were quiet. Classes were still ongoing, Lance was dodging going through the halls for us to get noticed. He knew of a back door that led straight to Adam’s office. Amy, Adam’s receptionist, had a worried look on her face when she took in Lance and me in his arms. 

 

«Keith! Are you alright? Your father is on the phone, but this looks serious.» She held a hand close to my face, wanting to caress it to make sure I was alright. Amy had been a close friend of the family for many years. When she was old enough to apply for a job, Adam hired her as his receptionist as soon as possible. She was really good at her job too, also she made one hell of a chocolate cake. Devil’s food cake could go kiss Amy’s chocolate cake’s ass, that’s how good it was. 

 

Pain shot in my back again, a wince making way to my face when I said, «I’m fine, Amy. Just a small scratch on my back.» 

 

«Actually it's a big scratch, can we just kick the door open and get daddy principal’s attention?» Lance said angrily, his hand between my shoulder blades rubbing me gently almost like he was trying to soothe me. 

 

Amy ran to Adam’s door, opening it wearing a distressed look, her gaze turning to face me and Lance. 

 

In the door opening, Adam was on the phone, but it quickly found the receiver when he caught me in Lance’s arms in the doorway. «Keith….what happened?» Adam rushed to us, urging Lance to bring me in to his office. 

 

Adam had a two seat couch in his office, directing Lance to lay me down on the couch. He lied me down on my stomach, pulling my t-shirt up to show the wound to Adam. «The cut’s not deep, I washed it up with warm water and got most of the blood away. He needs a band-aid or something to keep the cut clean so that it doesn’t get irritated and get an infection. I thought of bringing him to the nurse’s office, but yours was closer.» Lance breathed out, grabbing a chair, dragging to close to me.

 

He sat down, letting loose a couple more breaths. Guess I was heavier than he thought. Though, I was impressed he managed to carry me all the way to Adam’s office. 

 

«Looks okay. Are you alright, Keith?» Adam asked, inspecting the wound. 

 

I felt as small as Ruby with Adam and Lance towering over me, discussing how to treat me. «I’m fine, it just hurts. Like a throbbing pain.» I explained, resting my head on my crossed arms, my face looking sideways. Lance shot a corner of his mouth up when he caught my bored stare. 

 

«Good….now the question is, what the hell happened?» He looked at me with surprised light brown eyes, then looked at Lance. 

 

Had Lance not raised his hand in class today, we could have avoided all of this. But, I decided not to put all the blame on him. This was just as much my fault as it was his. «We had a fight.» 

 

Adam made a confused look, moving his face back and forth between Lance and I. «You two?» He asked, a chuckle almost escaping his throat, «But you guys fight all the time, what’s so special with this fight that made you hurt yourself?» His face went back to serious, I was scared he was going to go feral on Lance like he was the one who hurt me. He did, but it was an accident. Now, me punching him, that was all me. I was going to have to apologize to him afterwards, but having him nominate me for the election was going too far, he almost deserved being punched. 

 

Lance never mentioned my punching him, giving me a pained look. «It’s my fault, Adam. I nominated Keith for the school election…» He started, but Adam interrupted him by raising a brown hand in his face. 

 

«Wait, wait, wait. There’s going to be an election!? Between Keith and Lotor? Amazing..» He moved to his desk, slumping down with defeat in his chair. 

 

Adam took off his glasses, dragging his hand over his face to grasp what had happened. «Let me guess. You nominated Keith, probably said some nice words about him. Then two more people nominated him which makes Keith a candidate. No wonder you guys fought. Keith hates attention, and this, Lance, this was going too far.» It was like Adam read my mind, «For Keith. For me, this is great! We haven’t had an election in over three years, this school needed some action. Not sure about Keith running against Lotor but with you on his team…things could get…interesting.» He put his glasses back on, pushing on the middle like he was an anime character. 

 

Amy came in with medical supplies to bandage my wound. Lance took the supplies, giving her his best toothy grin. I could have sworn she made a blush at him, man, who couldn’t he make swoon over him.

 

As Lance started bandaging my back, Adam opened his mouth again, sounding like a parent not a principal, «Keith, Lance. You two need to apologize to each other. This fight was unnecessary. Keith you acted wrongly on your feelings, you know you need to use your words. When Shiro hears about this..» 

 

«Please Adam, don’t tell Shiro. He’ll never let me leave the house or ride with Lance again.» My eyes shimmered with hurt when he caught my stare. He didn’t need to know about this. I had to prove to him that I could take care of myself. 

 

Adam’s eyebrows shot up indicating that I knew what I had to do. I nodded back at him catching his unsaid words. When Lance finished bandaging me up, I finally felt well enough to sit up. I eased myself up on the couch noticing Lance’s hands wanting to help me but they stayed put. 

 

Finally right side up, I steered my gaze to Lance, not wanting to meet him in the eyes when I said, «I’m sorry. I acted like a stupid kid,» Without thinking, my hand went to his jaw moving towards his lip. A finger tip brushed the small bruise, my brows furrowing with hurt when I took in the wound I inflicted on him, «and for punching you…» My hand went back to my lap, head going low waiting for him to not forgive me. 

 

His hand lifted up, bumping my shoulder. My gaze caught his signature smile when he said, «No worries, man. I sort of deserved that. How was I supposed to know you’d flip out, rule number three ammiright?» He reminded me of our agreement. 

 

He had a point though. My hating being the center of attention of things was not something he knew about. But, he should of got the message when I told him I liked being a nobody. His hand shot forward, «Truce?» He asked.

 

I grabbed it noticing how warm it was in my grasp, «Truce.» I nodded, blinking away any indication of tears building up in my ducts. 

 

Adam coughed loudly to get our attention. «Not to interrupt your making up after a lovers quarrel. But, Keith, I want to know why it’s so bad to be a candidate? I think you would make a fine council president. GP could have a need of some fresh blood. The Kova group has ruled long enough, in my opinion.» Adam made a ridiculous face when he mentioned the Kova group. Those damn lesbians, thinking they owned the school. 

 

Wasn’t it obvious to him? «I’m a nobody at this school, Adam. A nerd, the golden boy, your son…no one wants the principal’s son as their president.» I admitted, avoiding Lance’s face. 

 

«That’s hogwash, you’re _my_ kid. To me and to a lot of other people, you are _not_ a nobody. Come on, son. I’m so sick of Lotor making all of these awful, formal decisions. He even said to me the other day that he could do a better job running this place than me. You need to tear him apart and rip him to shreds. I can’t do that, I’m the principal. It would be…unethical of me. But you two.» He pointed two fingers at me and Lance, a sly smile finding his brown face, doing that thing with his glasses again. He was such a nerd, «You two could bring the Kova group down. Down-town.»

 

«We’re leaving.» I got to my legs, dragging on Lance’s collar to follow me. 

 

«I like Adam.» Lance suddenly said when we found our lockers. No wonder, they shared a lot of the same ideals, I thought. Lance was leaning on the locker next to mine, crossing his arms taking in the conversation we just had in Adam’s office. 

 

We sat in Adam’s office all of third period. It was lunch now, but I felt like going home to sleep for a hundred years, but school was more important than a hole in my back. 

 

«You gonna stop calling him daddy principal? By the way, why were called into his office a couple weeks ago? Do you guys have something planned against me?» I eyed him, closing my locker, flinching at the sudden pain from the wound. 

 

Two thin brown brows shot up, his blue eyes flickering green when he steered his gaze away from mine. «No reason. None that concerns you. Rule number three, Kogane.» He reminded me. I was starting to regret making these stupid rules. 

 

«Fine. Also tell me why you didn’t nominate yourself as a candidate, that would seem just like you.» I suggested, a look of confusion meeting his. 

 

He waved two brown hands in front of my face, his face going all sheepish, his voice getting shaky. This was a new side of him I had never seen before. «No, no, no, no, no, not gonna happen. Just the thought of giving a speech in front of so many people makes want to barf. I thought if you became a candidate, I could be your man in the chair giving you all the deeds you need to win this election. With Pidge and Hunk on your team, you’ll be unbeatable! Pidge will be the brains of this plan, Hunk will be our cook, making all the delicious goods that’ll win the hearts and stomachs of everyone. And me.» His smile blinded me, I had to actually hold a gloved hand up to cover the shine. «I’ll be your words. With your pretty face, and my heartfelt words. We’ll be unbeatable, Keith. We’ll make a good team, the four of us. Let’s kick the motherfucking Kova group in the teeth.» He slung an around my shoulder dragging me to lunch to fill Pidge and Hunk in on our plan. 

 

Just like that, our ridiculous fight was forgotten. Instead, some other words filled my mind, «Did you just call my face pretty?» I asked, but he laughed me off. 


	15. Strategy

Lunch today, was an unusual experience. Everyone at school had heard about the rumors of me going against Lotor for student body president. Word had spread fast within a time span of three periods. GP was a big school, but what surprised me more was that no one had heard about me and Lance’s fight. I was over the moon when I came into the cafeteria and all everyone could talk about was Lotor’s sour face when he made his horrible speech in the other classrooms. He must have been bummed that there was going to be an election after all. It was music to my ears.

 

In the lunch line, I was met with students from my senior class, and students from other grades. They all either patted me on the shoulder wishing me good luck in the election, or they didn’t hesitate to tell me to drop out as soon as possible since Lotor had a juicy campaign in the process ready to destroy me with his Kova group. Tell me about it, my legs were shaking at the thought of having to set up a campaign, make a grand speech to win the school over and have plenty of assorted bake sales or other events to pitch to get the students’ votes. 

 

Why did I go along with this? I could have just backed out, but the look on Lance’s face would kill me, then kill him in the same process. Not only that, Adam was really good at persuading me to stay in the election. Him and his stupid choice of words. Also his stupid being my dad speech, plus he managed to drag Shiro into this and that hit a nerve in my spine. 

 

I set my tray of Friday’s mac n’ cheese on the table before I carefully eased into a seat next to Lance. My wound was still shooting hot pain in my spine after my and Lance’s -little- falling out before lunch. I caught his sea-green eyes looking at my back, the green specks in his eyes were all over the place, he looked like someone had run him over with his own car. 

 

«I’m fine, Lance. It doesn’t hurt.» I assured him, piercing my mac, the cheesy gooey goodness finding my mouth. I had to open my mouth to pant with the warm mac on my tongue. «Hot!» I said, hardly able to form the word since my tongue was occupied being stuck out to cool the hot mac. 

 

He glanced at my shirt, giving me a weak smile. I was lucky he had a spare t-shirt in his locker for me to borrow. My black band t-shirt was stained with grass, and with dried blood on the back because of the wound. Lance and I were almost the same size, he was just a few inches taller than me, but it fit perfectly on me. It even smelled like him, like woodsmoke and spearmint. I didn’t feel the need to take it off in a while. If he forgot about it, maybe I could keep it. You know, until it was washed.

 

«Thanks for lending me your shirt.» I pulled at the white t-shirt. It had the band logo of one of his favorites; The Clash. 

 

Lance finally smiled, not looking too glum anymore. Calm found my chest, and the mac found my stomach. We both looked up when we heard Pidge and Hunk entering the cafeteria, sprinting to our usual table. They were both out of breath when they found us, bent over their knees to catch their breaths. 

 

Pidge opened her mouth first, still trying to catch her breath, where the hell did they run from, the sun? «Keith.» Pant, «We.» Pant, «Heard.» Wheeze, «The news. An el-ec-tion…you…against…Lotor.» She almost toppled over. 

 

Hunk had been the one to topple over. He was on the floor when Pidge finally caught her breath fishing out her DS when she sat down opposite Lance and I. 

 

«Hunk! Get up, that’s not sanitary.» Pidge yelled, focused on her game, waiting for me to fill them in on the news. 

 

Looking down at the floor, Pidge had a point, they could have used more money keeping this place cleaner. Could that be something to promise during the election? I needed a manifesto for this tiring event. Why me? Why did Lance transfer to this school? Did someone think it would be a fun prank to interrupt my life and all of my plans? 

 

«Munchkin, get off the DS if you want us to fill you in.» Lance said, stuffing his face with a BLT sandwich. Pidge glared at him with the use of the nickname she hated. He was finally eating more. Come to think of it, I couldn’t recall the last time I saw him smoking a cigarette since Pidge and I called him out about it. Could he have quit? I wouldn’t know unless I got close enough to smell his breath or taste his…I took a new bite of my mac waiting for Hunk to get up. 

 

As said, Hunk got up, our whole table shaking when he found his seat next to Pidge. «I’m gonna need to get some grub before you start, Keith.» 

 

«Then why did you sit down? Hurry, we only have twenty minutes to come up with a strategy plan and a slogan.» Lance hurried Hunk, getting up with him to help get his food. He’s going to need at least three trays after all that running. 

 

When Lance and Hunk left to find some food, Pidge eyed me from her game. «What?» I asked, crossing my arms. 

 

«Nothing. This isn’t like you.» She noted.We had been friends for a while, it was easy for her to spot these things about me.

 

I met Pidge in middle school. Her dad, Samuel Holt, became Shiro’s coworker four years ago, and she was only twelve when we met, but I would have never taken her as a twelve year old at the time even if she was small for her age, but when she opened her mouth, I wondered if someone had experimented on her, wondering if she was actually a fifty year old scientist. Don’t get me wrong, she often acted like a little kid, even today as a sophomore, but compared to Lance or Hunk, she was at least thirty years their senior mentally. 

 

«What do you mean?» I asked her, nodding for her to turn off her game if she was going to chat. A thing I picked up from Shiro whenever I ignored him sitting on my phone. 

 

Her DS went black.«I dunno, this. Being so…public. It’s not like you. We’ve known each other for four years, and you’ve always told me how much you hated it when people noticed you. Then this happens. I’m curious, Keith. Are you trying to impress Lance or something?» She asked, and I choked on my mac from her question, coughing for my life. 

 

«What!? Why do I want to impress that dimwit?» I exclaimed, but before she could open her mouth, the rest of our pack made it back to our table. Pidge left our conversation, her DS lighting up again. 

 

«Who wants to impress who? Lancey-Lance loves it when others want to show themselves off for him. Means I have a shot to plant some smooches on them. So who’s the lucky chica?» He set one of Hunk’s - four! - trays on the table, rubbing his tan hands against each other ready for some action.

 

«No one! I was just asking Keith why in the world he was going to run against Lotor for student body president. He can just pull out of it, I don’t think it’s a problem.» Pidge gestured a concerned hand towards me, a smile finding her face, her glasses glinting in the light. Was she up to something? She was pulling some sort of reverse psychology on me, I know it. She would love the attention, and the chance to put her creative skills and her big mouth to action. Also, her smarts could have a fine play in this election. Nuh-uh, she wanted me to step into this election, almost as much as Lance. 

 

«Because Lotor’s a dick and needs to be put into his rightful place.» I said matter of factly. Lance nodding with me, his hand finding my shoulder supporting his decision of nominating me. I still hated him for nominating me, but in the end, I had to go along with this. It would be social suicide if I dropped out of it now that the whole school knew about it. 

 

«Let’s talk strategy. Hunk you get bake sales, you make A-mazing baked goods. We can win a lot of students’ stomachs over with your cooking. Pidge, you’ll be the brains of this campaign, figuring out the numbers and what we should focus mostly on at this school. Money, expenses, new things or a bigger budget for clubs, figure it out.» Hunk and Pidge nodded at him, then at each other. They were pumped. 

 

«Keith, you’re the face of this campaign.» Lance stated.

 

«No duh- you nominated me.» I pointed out, rolling my eyes at him. 

 

«Oh yeah, I’m just too excited to get started. We’re gonna need to make posters, find a slogan, take pictures of your pretty face.» His blue eyes sparkled, literally glittered like Ruby’s plush dinosaur when he mentioned taking pictures of me. What went on in that dingus’ brain?

 

«Pictures!? What, why?» I asked, picturing myself trying to be a model, but failing miserably. 

 

«For the posters. We’re gonna need a headshot of you, and maybe a couple body shots. We’ll make three different posters. I’m thinking for a slogan: Keith.» He spread his hands above his face, motioning them down to each his side like forming a circle with his hands when he said my name, like he had discovered a new piece of land. His eyes met mine when he then said, «The future.» A wicked grin finding his lips as he said the words, making the hair’s on my neck rise sky high.

 

The future? How am I going to be the future of GP? He was thinking too hard on this, but I couldn’t disappoint him. He wouldn’t let it off, bound to make my life a miserable hell if I didn’t cooperate with him. «Sounds good, Lance. Who’s going to take pictures of me? You? With your phone?» I suggested, wishing to get this over with. We didn’t have long to get this campaign up, the election was less than a month away, thanks to Lotor dragging it out as far as possible. We had too much to do. Seriously, I did not have time for this. 

 

«Sure, I can take pics of you. Oh! I have an idea, let’s go to that arcade you talked about after school. We can get some pics of you beating all the games. We’ll take a pic with you having a high-score, then use a slogan like: Keith, never loses. Will beat any boss for you.» Lance did the same motion with his hands again, it looked pretty stupid but his idea was cool. I took his waving hands and put them back in his lap. 

 

«Sounds good. Arcade after school? Pidge, Hunk?» My head went from one to the other. They both grinned, high-fiving each other. We loved going to the arcade. 

 

«Gross, Hunk! Wipe your hands, they’re full of ketchup.» Pidge made a loud groan, wiping her tiny hands of ketchup on a napkin.

 

«Then it’s settled, Team Voltron, ready for action! We’re gonna win this election!» Lance stretched his arm out, making a fist in the middle of our table. 

 

«Voltron? What the hell is that? Some kind of space alien group thingy you saw from a movie or a tv-show?» I asked, thinking the name sounded ridiculous but kind of bad-ass too. Maybe we did have a chance? 

 

«What? Lotor has his stupid _Kova_ group, we need a name too.» Lance mocked the name.

 

«But, Voltron? Why not something like Olkarion, and we can be the Olkaries.» Pidge suggested.

 

«How about, the mighty Balmera group. I like the ring of that name, can’t we call our campaign that instead?» Hunk beamed at the name he came up with.

 

Lance kept on shaking his head. He was putting his foot down on this, we all heard the stomp of his black Doc Marten boot under the table. «I got us into this mess, I’m choosing the name. Team Voltron ready for action!» He shouted in the hall, smiling brightly. 

 

I stuck a gloved fist in the middle of the table, touching the tan knuckles of Lance’s fisted hand, noticing the golden rings glinting in the light. Pidge huffed out an exasperated breath at the name, sticking her own pink-skinned hand to ours. Lastly, Hunk ate up his fries, licking the salt from his fingers before throwing his own fist towards the ring of fists. 

 

«When I say Vol- you guys say Tron!» Lance yelled, students from around our table were staring at us with smiles or weird grimaces on their faces. 

 

«Come on, my game isn’t paused!» Pidge urged, a growl leaving her tiny mouth. 

 

«VOL!» Lance yelled.

 

«TRON! / VOLTRON!» Pidge and Hunk yelled correctly. I on the other hand, was met with an angry blue gaze next to me.

 

«What?» I lifted my gloved hands up to my shoulders, shooting my black eyebrows up at him. I did exactly as he said, why the look of frustration. This boy, sometimes he makes me want to wring his long, brown neck. 

 

«You were supposed to say TRON! Keith, not Voltron…what’s the point of having a chant if you can’t do it correctly...» Lance was wearing a frustrated face at my shouting the wrong word. 

 

«Seriously? You’re being overdramatic because I chanted wrongly…fine, let’s do it again.» I said, looking at the table for our friends to join in again, but Pidge was gone without a trace. Next to her, Hunk had been piling his trays, tapping on his bright orange wrist watch showing us the time. 

 

The bell was going to ring in two minutes, we had to be quick. I stuck my gloved fist out to Lance, giving him a challenging grin. «When I say Vol…»

 

«You say tron.» He completed, mirroring my grin, his hand making a new fist stretching it out to touch my gloved fist. 

 

«Vol-!» He started,

 

«tron!» We boomed our fists in the air like a bomb. 


	16. High-Score

On the drive to the arcade, Pidge, Hunk and Lance wouldn’t be quiet about our campaign. Ideas after ideas were flooding from left and right, front to back. It came to my head just then that I really did have great friends, and an okay delinquent backing me up on this disaster. If everything went according to plan, and the photos turned out well, we could actually pull this off. I might have a chance of winning, and against Lotor of all people. 

 

Hunk was still up front since it was still his shot-gun week. I couldn’t see Lance’s face since I was sitting right behind his seat, but at times I was able to chance a glance at him in the car mirror smacked between them up front. Every time a blue gaze met with my stare, a glint of green glowed giving me a warm, fuzzy feeling. Next to me, Pidge was busy playing on her DS. Lucky girl. If my face didn’t follow the road once while driving, my stomach would make tumbles threatening with bile to rise in my throat. Having car sickness sucked. 

 

«Keith! How you feeling? You still up for taking pics?» Lance said in front of me, taking a turn into the arcade’s parking lot. 

 

A long pole with a bright pink neon sign with the words «Game On: Arcade» glowed with bright blue letters. Next to the sign was a large gray two story building, the arcade itself. It also doubled as a jungle gym for children and as a restaurant. 

 

I took in the arcade in front of us when Lance asked me his question. He could have referred to my car sickness, but I knew he was thinking about my back. «I’m fine, dude. Let’s do this.» I patted his shoulder when he died the car. Besides, I was wearing a dark blue buttoned shirt and my red leather jacket over the wound, I think that would be patting enough. Also, I really wanted to hang at the arcade with my team. With team Voltron. A smiled tugged on my lips at the name. 

 

As I mentioned earlier, Pidge could act like a little kid if she wanted to. Now was her time to shine. She loved the arcade, it was her second favorite place to be besides her room on her computer. Gaming was her life, I’m positive she’ll become some kind of games developer or graphic designer in the field of gaming in the future. It was her destiny, in my opinion anyways. 

 

She was running at full speed ahead towards the building, Hunk panting behind her. «You go here often?» Lance asked, hands rested behind his head, casually walking towards the building. 

 

He left his jacket in the car, maybe he had a warm body? His bright blue skinny jeans looked snug in all the right places on his long legs. Jealousy always enraptured my mind whenever I took in his wardrobe. He knew exactly how to dress himself, and I always had to bite back any words of praise to him because all hell would break loose if he knew I liked his style. 

 

«Yeah, we’re regulars. Go here at least once a week. Shiro complains that I use too much of my allowance on this place, but it’s like my sanctuary. I like going here whenever I don’t feel like being treated like a little kid at home. Shiro has a tendency to always have something to complain about me when I come home from school. Either it's my grades not being straight As or my choice of friends.» I looked at Lance, trying not to make it obvious that he was one of said choices. 

 

He rolled his blue-green eyes, a chuckle escaping his throat. «Sure. I get it. I have my own sanctuary too, cept it’s more of an outdoorsy place.» 

 

«That why you smell like a camp fire sometimes?» I blurted, not thinking straight. 

 

Lance laughed again, looking up at the bright blue sky. «Yeah. The great outdoors. Fresh air, the smell of woodsmoke and flowers. I love it. Always calms me down on my darkest days.» He admitted, a sad face tugging on his cheeks. 

 

His words made me curious. What was going on in his head? Did he have problems at home too? It would make his delinquency much more sense. There had to be something that made him this angry at the school. He was well aware of how smart he was, he nailed his English paper, and our upcoming algebra test shouldn’t be a problem anymore. If there was one person in the world who had dedication, it was Lance McClain. 

 

We finally reached the arcade’s entrance. Lance held the door open for me, a smile tugged on his lips when I passed him. Inside we were met with an enormous room full of different games, pinball machines, old and new video games. Stuck to one wall were row after row with Just Dance machines, the old type and the newer type where the pads you danced on turned into colors when you stomped to the correct patterns. On a different side you saw three large basketball hoop machines, and next to them was the classic Jurassic Park arcade game, shaped like a vehicle from the movie where you go inside of it, pretending you’re actually part of the movie, and next to it was a zombie shooting game that resembled Resident Evil with two guns stuck into the game. We were definitely playing that one. I needed to see if Lance was a good shot. 

 

When you passed the arcade section, you would find a window covering the whole wall. Past the window were kids running everywhere climbing, sliding, jumping all over the jungle gym. «This place is huge.» Lance tried to take in the whole place, but there was just too much to cover. 

 

Granted, anyone’s first time at this place could feel a bit overwhelming. But with Lance, his blue eyes turned into a brilliant green, and a bright wide smile plastered on to his face while he ran around to check out the different games this place withheld. You would have thought he found the X on a treasure map. 

 

«We’ve hit gold, Captain.» Lance teased when he ran back to me, grabbing my hand to pull me to the zombie game. «We need to play this one first before we take any pictures. I loooove shooting games, I’m so good at it!» He complemented himself. Such a brag. 

 

We went behind the curtain, grabbing each our own arcade gun. I grabbed the blue one, Lance the red one. We both looked at our guns, brows furrowed. Lance caught my stare and nodded. We switched. Red was my color, blue was definitely his. «Let’s get this zombie-slaughtering party started.» He said, but made a surprised face when he took in the high-score board glowing on the large screen. 

 

«Are you effin’ kidding me? You, Kogane? You have the high-score on this game!» His look of surprise flashed into a look of determination. 

 

«Sure do. There’ll be more surprises to come.» I teased. _Just you wait,_ I thought. I had almost every high-score in this building. 

 

«You’re on, Kogane. They don’t call me the _sharpshooter_ for nothing. Prepare to meet your demise.» Lance held his gun up, ready to slaughter some zombies. 

 

«Who the hell calls you the sharpshooter, the invisible chicas I see everywhere?» I tried to unnerve him, waiting for the numbers on the game to count down to one. 

 

The game started, and zombies started pouring from every corner. I was too focused on my own shooting skills that I hadn’t realized that we past my own high-score within minutes. Lance was amazing. He was lost in the game, his shooting skills going from novice to top notch in seconds. I died after a while, stuffing my red gun in the game holster. Lance was still at it, shooting from left to right, taking out zombies I hadn’t even noticed in the game. One was coming straight at him, but he took it out in the blink of an eye. When he reached a difficult level, one that required both players usually, his character was toppled from head to toe with zombies, finally calling it quits. 

 

Shock found my face. He more than doubled my score. «Holy shit! You really are the sharpshooter, that was amazing, Lance!» Both of my hands found his shoulders, shaking him side to side. 

 

Lance beamed at my sudden loud praise, drawing Pidge and Hunk to find us behind the zombie game’s curtain. «There you guys are…oh my god. Lance you beat Keith’s high-score!?» Pidge slapped him proudly on the back. «I’ve been trying to defeat him for years.» 

 

«They don’t call me the sharpshooter for nothing. Come on, we need to take pics, then after that, Kogane. I’m taking down every high-score you got at this place. Consider me from this day forward..» He pointed a brown finger to me then at himself, a blinding smile tugged on his face. «Your rival.» His words sent chills down my spine. 

«Stand by the Pac-Man machine and have a happy look on your face while you play the game.» Lance instructed, pulling his phone out from his back pocket. 

 

«Why Pac-Man?» Pidge asked, directing her gaze to all the other games he could choose from. «Like why not one of the newer games? He could play Street Fighter, or race the Mario Kart games!» She started pointing to the other games. 

 

«Or! Or!» Hunk was clapping his hands in a frenzy, «He can play air-hockey with one of us, then we can photoshop Lotor on the other side being beat.» 

 

«That’s actually not a bad idea.» Lance smiled, «We can do that afterwards. Pac-Man is like _the_ classic arcade game. I want Keith playing it, letting his fellow students know that he cares about everyone, since Pac-Man is a game everyone enjoys. Get it?» He held his phone ready to take a pic of me. 

 

His reason was a good one. I agreed on that while I put a quarter in the game, a gloved hand grabbing the yellow-balled joystick. The screen lit up with the high scores. The words KitKat shined in blue lettering at the top of board. My usual screen name if I couldn’t use more than six letters. Lance recognized the name since I used the same handle on our Discord chat. He told me he always had the urge to eat Kit-Kats whenever he saw my handle, complaining he’d get fat and acne because of me. 

 

I shook off the thought, playing the game while Lance took photos of me. He was shouting encouraging words at me, like _you can do it, Keefy! Go,go,go Samurai!_ or my least favorite; _Come on Kitten, get that mouse!_ Seriously, do I look like an innocent kitten? Every time he said the word, my heart always did a small leap, I couldn’t understand why. 

 

Pac-Man finally succumbed to the cute ghosts. «How did they turn out?» I asked, turning around to catch Lance zooming in on my face on his phone. «Lance!» I shouted loudly in his ear, the music from the speakers going deaf to him. 

 

«Huh, oh! This one turned out great, your smile looks good here.» He zoomed in more on my smile. My cuspids looked like fangs, almost like a vampire. I looked like I was having fun, and that I was ready to take out someone’s life. Gaming was a dangerous hobby. 

 

«Hey guys! It’s getting kind of late. My mom is coming to pick me and Hunk up. We’ll chat on the Cord, maybe hang out tomorrow?» Pidge said, with Hunk on her tail when they came back from the ticket counter. They had been playing skeeball for the last half hour collecting tickets. Pidge always collected prizes from this place even if they were cheap-ass plastic things, but they gave her joy so I couldn’t complain. 

 

«Sure thing, say hi to Mrs. H from us. We’ll be a bit longer, since curfew isn’t until 10pm. Thank god for the weekends, ammiright Kitten?» Lance shot out his stupid nickname for me. 

 

I slapped his back in anger, a bit hard too probably as payback for splitting open my back earlier today. «Stop calling me that, I’m not your pet.» 

 

Pidge and Hunk waved us goodbye when they opened the door, being met by sunlight. We still had some time to play before we needed to eat something. I checked my phone, neither Adam nor Shiro had called or texted. I’m sure that they knew I was with the guys. Besides, I turn 18 in a month, I was old enough to be on my own. They didn’t need to observe my every move. It wasn’t like I was going behind their backs with a boyfriend and having sex. 

 

«What do you want to play next?» Lance asked when the dynamic duo left. 

 

«Jurassic Park? It’s been a while. We need two people to play.» I pointed to the car. 

I followed after him when he made his way over, long legs walking stride after stride, a look of pleasure finding his face. In the car, Lance took the driver’s seat, and I sat in the passenger seat. Natural selection, I guess. We both pushed a quarter each into the game, the music going louder in the speakers around us. The car was sealed shut on both our sides, like we were in some kind of simulation, but it was just the doors closed on our sides, we could get out if we wanted to. 

 

«You ready to drive away from some dinosaurs? Got your weapon ready, Kitten?» He teased using my nickname again. 

 

I held the plastic weapon up to his face. «Call me Kitten again, and this will give a new bloody lip.» I threatened, but regretted my choice of words. I still felt bad for punching him earlier today, lowering my weapon in defeat. «Sorry…I didn’t mean it like that.» I said, looking at the small bruise forming on the lower corner of his lip. 

 

Lance waved me off, sitting up to get ready when the game started. «No biggie, Kogane. Come on, start shooting!» He screamed, turning on the wheel. 

 

The car boomed with noises of dinosaurs stampeding after us on the screen, then the car tilted on its own to one side turning the game into some kind of 4D experience. My whole body tilted to one side, inching close to Lance, my elbow grazing his. After a while, we got way too into the game when I tried to get on my feet in the car, aiming at dinosaur after dinosaur screaming «Die, evil scum! We need to survive!» What I didn’t notice was when the car tilted again, jolting me, then making me lose my footing. I fell to the side and landed in Lance’s lap. 

 

His hands left the wheel, causing our game to end in a game over. It was fun while it lasted, but I didn’t have time to think about that being in Lance’s lap and everything. This was my chance though. I wasn’t thinking when I decided to sit up and wrap my legs around him, really sitting on his lap now. His face went completely red at my sudden closeness, and at the sudden warm touch of my body on top of his. 

 

«Keith, what are you…uhh..what’s up? If you wanted to sit on my lap, all you had to do was ask. I would have said y—» I grabbed at his jaw, pulling it close to my nose. His voice was muffled beneath my hold of his chin. My finger dug into his mouth trying to open it up. He did as silently requested, opening his mouth. I leaned in, sniffing a couple times. The smell of spearmint wafted in my nose, but no hint of a smell of cigarettes. 

 

His mouth shut close when I let go, now dragging at the hem of his t-shirt. «KEITH! What has come over you? You want me that bad?» He squirmed beneath me as I lifted his t-shirt up, not thinking about his bare body beneath it. My eyes caught smooth, darkly tanned skin and a very finely toned stomach. I gulped at the look, then had to divert my gaze as I found what I was looking for. A nicotine patch. He was quitting. The thought put a bright smile on my face, as I peeled off of his lap. 

 

«What was that all about?» He asked, pulling his t-shirt back down hiding his toned stomach. 

 

«I noticed you weren’t smoking anymore. Had to see if my thoughts were right.» I winked, actually winked at him. This guy was rubbing off on me. 

 

«Oh…» He sounded disappointed for some reason. 

 

«Come on, we still have some head-shots left, right? You want to get some pics of my pretty face on your phone, right? I get to choose which one you can set as your wallpaper.» I joked, but his whole face beamed brightly at the suggestion. 

 

«Hell yes, I’m down for that!» Lance shouted, getting out of the car, yelling for me to follow him in the arcade. 


	17. Brains

During breakfast the next morning, Shiro was all up in my ass asking questions after questions about the election. It should have made me happy since he was ecstatic of the news, telling me how good this was going to look on my last applications. They had to be sent within the end of October if I wanted an early admission, so this happening at the last minute was perfect timing, in Shiro’s opinion. 

 

Ruby was eating a bowl of Lucky Charms, something only Shiro admitted on Saturdays. Her smiling face when she took a bite of a spoonful of only the marshmallows warmed my heart. She was so adorable. _Lance has to meet her soon,_ I thought. 

 

«What are you thinking about, Keith? You look like someone handed you a bowl of your favorite mac and cheese.» Adam noted, grabbing the pot, pouring himself a hot cup of coffee. 

 

«No one.» I quickly said, scrunching my nose at the use of one and not thing. Damn, they’re going to ask me things again. Parents were tiring, quoting Lance. 

 

«No one? So you were thinking about someone. Does our Keith have a crush on someone?» Adam teased, tickling Ruby next to him, a loud giggle leaving her mouth. 

 

«Sweety, you know Keith doesn’t have time for a romantic life. He needs to focus on the election, then getting into college. He can find a boyfriend when he graduates. Besides, since when does Keith even think about love, we both know he’s always flustered when we mention it.» Shiro says, handing me a bowl of my own Lucky Charms. Saturdays were the best, except when your parents discussed your love life. 

 

Fine, I’d never had a love life before. But I did have crushes. I remember in freshman year, I had a huge crush on Ryan Kinkade, our very own Mr. Popular, but everyone had a crush on him. When Adam found out, he was dropping hints around Ryan every time he spotted him. It was a nightmare. From that point on, I decided to never, ever tell them about my crushes ever again. Especially if it was someone from school. Adam was unpredictable, and with him around the school, who knew what stupid plans he had concocted in that stupid dad brain of his. 

 

Shiro on the other hand, was the more calmer supportive parent. When I officially came out to them last year, he did everything he could to make me feel comfortable about my sexual preference. He was bisexual, and told me stories of how he was treated by his parents when he came out. He promised he would be as supportive as possible, not being like his own parents who sort of disowned him when he got together with Adam. 

 

«It was nothing, okay! I was just thinking about something funny Lance told me yesterday. So let’s just forget about it.» I said, taking a large spoonful of marshmallows.

 

«You’ve been hanging out with him a lot lately, thought you were only tutoring him.» Shiro asked, wiping Ruby’s face. His look didn’t show any hint of concern, I think he was warming up to the idea of me being around Lance more and more. 

 

«Well he is running the campaign with me, so I’m gonna have to be around him. Look, he took this photo of me yesterday at the arcade.» I smiled, showing Shiro the photo, «He’s going to turn it into a poster with a slogan and everything.» I beamed, picturing the poster and how Lance is going to make it look. 

 

«You look great here, Keith. You guys were going to the movies later, right?» Adam said from behind Shiro looking at the photo. 

 

«Yeah, we’re going to see the new zombie flick that’s screening. Lance loves horror movies.» I stated, making a face at my dads who were now looking at each other with knowing looks. 

 

«What?» I asked, getting up to go find an outfit for later. 

 

«No one.» They both said in mocking tones, giving each other a loving smile. «No one!» Ruby copied them, spilling milk all over the table. 

 

«Rubes, what did we tell you not to play with your food!» Adam argued with her. 

 

«Then buy me a puppy!» She negotiated, spilling more milk an evil laugh leaving her cute mouth.

 

*_*

 

I heard a loud honking outside our house, throwing the book I was reading on the couch to grab my coat and pull on my shoes. Adam stood at the top of stairs looking down at me. He was smiling brightly giving me a thumbs up, weird. Shiro was resting on one of the lazy-boy recliners in the living room jolting awake at my sudden rushing to the door. 

 

«No later than 10, Keith! Have fun, don’t put too much melted butter on your popcorn. That stuff is not good for your body.» Shiro called from the recliner, urging for Ruby cuddle with him. 

 

Ruby ran past me, gripping her t-rex plush, whom she dubbed the name, Sir Lance. Adam blamed me when she gave it the name since all I ever talked about was Lance, in Adam’s opinion. I remembered scoffing at him at the mention, since when did I ever talk about Lance? «Don’t worry, I’ll come home after the movie. See ya, love you guys.» I called, getting out of the house. 

 

«Ready for some zombie action, Kitten?» Lance said happily from the driver’s seat. 

 

«What did I say about the nickname, Lance?» I groaned, choosing a song for us to listen to. 

 

Lance pulled out of the driveway, waving to Ruby from the window. «She’s adorable. You ever talk to her about me?» He asked, driving towards Pidge’s place. 

 

This was probably not the time to tell him about Sir Lance. Instead, I said, «Yeah, I’ve talked about you. Ruby knows who you are, she’s dying to meet you. Maybe we can invite you over for dinner one night. Or you can come over to just…I dunno…hang?» I tried to say nonchalantly, but my nerves were bubbling up in my throat making my voice sound all shaky, and jittery. 

 

All I could hear in the car was the sound of the song I put on. Lance was eerily quiet again. Sometimes I wondered what he was thinking about. If he had a crush on anyone, or if he only made out or had sex with random people. Did he want a committed relationship in the future? Did he like boys? My cheeks heated at the last thought, shaking it quickly away from my mind. 

 

«Sounds like a plan. Whenever you have a free evening and need a dining companion, I’ll be your man.» He finally spoke up, pointing a golden ringed finger at himself before pulling in to Pidge’s driveway. 

 

After picking up Hunk after we got Pidge, Lance zoomed to the movie theatre. In the car, the gang chatted about the movie, if it was going to be scary or gory enough to Lance’s satisfaction at least. I hated guts with a passion, something Lance knew after our little dissection debacle a week back. Wanting to watch this movie was all his fault. He wouldn’t shut up about it all week, it was making me go crazy until I said I would watch it with him as long as I could cover my eyes without him making fun of me. He took my hand that day saying it was a deal, and that he would protect me if needed. I pushed him away after that comment. 

«You can still back out, Kogane.» Lance said, parking the car outside the movie theatre. 

 

Pidge and Hunk made _oooooh_ sounds after Lance’s challenge. No way was I going to chicken out. I opened the door, pulling my leather jacket on tighter trying to show him how serious I was. «We’ll see who screams the loudest, McClain.» I said, getting out. 

 

We had to pass a dark alley on the way to the movie theatre’s entrance. Pidge thought she heard a rustle from the alley, but when we turned our attention to the dark slot between the two buildings, there wasn’t a sound to be made. Could have been a gust of wind moving a piece of trash. Hunk was suddenly scared at Pidge’s observation, cowering behind Lance. Guess we know who’s going to scream the loudest during the movie. He could sit on the far end. 

 

In the theatre, Lance went in first on our row, followed by me, then Pidge and lastly, Hunk. Lance had bought a huge bucket of popcorn, drenching it in melted butter, just the way I liked it. Pidge had a packet of Maltese's, and Hunk got what he always got; all the treats possible. He had a large soda, with a bucket of popcorn and a whole bunch of assorted candies. Hopefully, he’ll be too wrapped up in eating than watching the scary zombies tear people limb from limb apart. 

 

As the lights dimmed, Lance leaned in, «Scared, Kogane? You can still make a run for it before the zombies catch up.» He took a large handful of popcorn, stuffing his face. 

 

My hand attacked the bucket when I said, «Pay attention to the movie, McClain.»Eating the popcorn, trying to not get scared of all the guts already flying around in the opening scene. 

 

Halfway through the movie, my hands had found my face. Just like any scaredy cat, I was watching the movie through my fingers, hoping to avoid seeing more guts or brains flying. Next to me, Pidge was making punches at the screen, enjoying the movie. Next to her, Hunk was mirroring me, tears running down his face, he was not enjoying this at all. Then there was Lance on my other side, he was holding a popped kernel of popcorn close to his mouth, but was too focused on the movie to put it in his mouth. 

 

I shoved his shoulder with my own shoulder, he jolted at the touch, dropping his popcorn looking at me with big blue-green eyes. «Come on, Keith. This is like the best part! You’re tougher than this, you wore your tough-guy outfit for the occasion.» Lance whispered in my ear, grabbing my left hand in his, pulling it down to the arm rest, pinning it there. 

 

He was right though. I went for my favorite black and red checkered shirt tonight, pairing it with my black skinny jeans and boots. Lance went with a whole other look. He was wearing a white and light blue baseball sweater and regular blue jeans, he even traded out his Doc Martens with white sneakers. I don’t know what came over him to dress down his own tough guy outfits, but he could wear anything. 

 

Just as my hand found the arm rest, a zombie ran straight to one of the characters in the movie, ripping her throat to shreds, blood gushing everywhere. Why did I go along with this? My right hand was trying to cover both my eyes, but I had to see, looking through my fingers again. Almost at the end of the movie, my heart-rate had found a steady pacing. Due to the movie almost ending, or Lance’s warm hand still resting on top of mine on the arm rest, beats me, the movie was thankfully almost done. 

 

The end credits finally rolled on the screen, a breath of relief making its way out of my lungs. Those were the worst two hours of my life, was what I thought it was going to be, but having Lance next to me made the movie feel less scary. We were still seated, stretching or talking about the movie and my gaze went down to the arm rest between Lance and I. 

 

«Scary movie?» Lance asked, not noticing that his hand was still gripping mine. 

 

I made a couple coughs so that he could get the picture, moving my eyes down to the arm rest. «Oh, sorry. I wasn’t aware that my hand…the movie was so good that…» He tried to talk his way out of him practically holding my hand throughout the second half of the movie. 

 

I waved him off, finally moving my hand away from under his. «No worries, you were too sucked into the movie. Come on, it’s getting late. I promised Shiro I’d come home after the movie.» 

 

Outside the theatre, the moon shined brightly, accompanied by splatters of stars everywhere reminding me of the splatters of green specks in Lance’s blue eyes. «Gorgeous.» I commented on the night sky, aware that Lance was standing next to me. 

 

He had his hands tucked into his blue bomber jacket, a gentle smile tugged onto his face directed to me when I commented on the sky. «Yeah, absolutely gorgeous.» I heard him agreeing with me, but his face wasn’t looking up at the sky. 

 

I could feel a tinge of heat rising to my cheeks in the cold night air. «Let’s go.» 

 

Pidge walked in front, Hunk, Lance and I behind her talking about the movie. We started to walk past the dark alleyway until we heard loud noises, and a yelp from an animal. «You guys. Those boys are hurting that poor little dog.» Pidge was leaned against the wall to the alleyway hoping the three boys, who looked like seniors from a different school, didn’t catch on to us. 

 

When we peeked into the alley, we caught the three boys kicking at the poor little creature. Laughing, and calling it names. Next to me, I could see Lance getting ready for a fight. I pulled on his shirt to stop him but it was no use. His sleeves were pulled up, and his face told me to back the hell off. He wasn’t letting anyone abuse the poor dog. 

 

«Lance! Don’t!» We all half-shouted after him while he made his way to the three boys, preparing for a fight. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posted this chapter a bit early. I'll be on an upload hiatus until Monday! Hope you enjoy this chapter. More will come after the weekend. :)


	18. Savior

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back from my upload hiatus. Hope you missed me. ;P

He went in. That browned haired, blue-eyed devil went into the alley, to beat up the boys harassing the poor dog, unbelievable. Pidge, Hunk and I, all stood cramped into each other smacked to the alley’s wall trying to take in what Lance had planned on doing to the boys. My gaze went to Hunk who was biting his fingernails recklessly, then there was Pidge itching to join in on the fight. Lucky for her, I was holding her back, my hand grabbing at the back of the collar of her green hoodie. She would be dog-meat if she joined Lance. 

 

Lance looked like a superhero when he stepped up to the three senior boys, wearing his hands like fists on his hips. «Seriously, harassing a dog? Now that’s low, even for me.» We heard Lance tell off the boys. 

 

«He’s going to die, Keith…We need to do something.» Hunk was pleading to me, both his big dark brown hands gripping tightly to my shoulders. That guy, he was as large as bear and could have easily taken out those three boys, but no, he was cowering behind my small stature. 

 

«Quiet. I want to see where Lance is going with this. Surely he won’t beat those guys up. It’s three to one.» I reassured Hunk while making a quiet shushing noise at him. His legs were trembling behind me. 

 

«We should go help him. I can take the little one. Keith you hold the tall one, then Lance can punch him right in the kisser.» Pidge made a new fist towards the wall like she did during the movie. Who knew she had it in her. Like a helpless parent, I had to hold on to both kids next to me. One hand gripping Pidge’s hoodie, and the other patting Hunk’s shoulder to calm him down. A low sigh released my mouth then my gaze went back to Lance.

 

The three boys started sizing him up. The tall one as Pidge had noted not long ago, was holding the pup. It looked terrified in the boy’s arms hoping we could save it soon. No worries, I thought, Lance had to have some kind of plan in his head. So much went on in that self-absorbed dingus’ brain that he had to be able to save a helpless dog without turning this into a deleted scene from _Kill Bill_. 

 

I could feel my hands start to tremble at the thought of Lance getting beat up. Picturing his body lying on the ground, his face bruised badly and cut up from their punches, imagining hurtful whimpers escaping his body. He couldn’t go through with that, it would be too much to bare for a small dog. I had to step in. 

 

My legs moved on their own. First I let go of Pidge’s hood, then my other hand released Hunk’s shoulder. I leaned on to the corner of the alley’s wall like a character from _Assassin’s Creed_ trying to sneak my way into the alley without being noticed. Lance quickly craned his neck, waving a brown hand at me to stay put. Fine, I’ll do as told but if the boys decide to jump him, I’m jumping in too. Four fists were better than two. 

 

«What’s the deal, homie?» Tall boy said with a Mexican accent. He had the same complexion as Lance but he looked more, thuggish. His comrades didn’t look any better. Seriously though, they all tree looked like comical bad boys from a bad low budget teen movie. 

 

«Ain’t got no deal, bro. Just want the dog, it looks like it’s had enough from you.» Lance said gesturing his hand towards the pup looking beat up in tall boy’s arms. 

 

«This your mutt, homie? I’m sorry, should’ve beat it up a bit more then.» Tall boy laughed looking at his two comrades for support. 

 

Lance shook his head in disbelief, and at that moment that was when the dog decided to bite tall boy’s hand. He shrieked at the bite dropping the dog on the ground for him to run away. Unfortunately, the dog didn’t run far. He coward behind one of the theatre’s garbage cans. The shortest of the boys tried to make his way over to the dog, but that was when Lance yelled, «Ey! Look at your friend’s jeans, his fly is wide open! Man, I can see right home, I feel bad for the ladies, ese.» 

 

Funnily enough, that got their attention. The dog was forgotten for a mili-second. While their faces where turned to their tall comrade, who was looking down at his own fly, Lance took the opportunity to bolt for the dog, grabbing it then running at light speed past me, then past Pidge and Hunk screaming, «TO THE CAR, NOW!!!!» We did as ordered by the tan boy who was running like he was being chased by flesh-eating zombies. 

 

When the three boys noticed Lance had lied and tricked them, they bolted after us almost gaining in on us. This was my time to shine, and thank Shiro later if we got out of this alive. Pidge was running beside me giving a look that said _what now? they’re gaining on us_. I smiled at her mouthing _Shiro_ in her direction. She must have understood my plan when she grinned back nodding her head in approval then grabbing Hunk’s arm to get him to run faster towards Lance’s car. 

 

Looking behind me while I ran, I spotted the three boys gaining in on me. When their leader spotted my stare, I shouted, «You guys come any closer to us we’ll recognize your faces. My dad’s a cop! He’ll find you, then it’s bye, bye back alleys for you.» I hoped to the gods that that would do it, and believable enough, it did. 

 

The three boys stopped running when I mentioned that my dad was cop. If they chose to believe me was on their own accords, one that would be the right choice to make. I was the last one to make it to the car, Hunk panting for his life, Pidge jumping up and down shouting how exciting that was and lastly Lance, holding one hand on the hood of the car and the other keeping the pup safe in the crook of his arm. 

 

«Where are they?» Lance asked, not showing any indication of loss of breath. Lucky bastard. 

 

«I got them to stop chasing us. Let’s just say two of our dads are of the law, so they would be, toast. And we’d remember their faces so I could get Adam to draw them up. So, if we got caught and beat up, they would still face the law. Lucky for us, we didn’t need to get beat up.» I said, trying to open up the locked car door hoping Lance was taking the hint. 

 

«Yeah, good job Keith. Now can we leave before they actually don’t care about being taken by the law.» Hunk rushed us, his eyes brimming with tears in his ducts. 

 

Lance, still holding the pup in one had, fished his keys out of his bomber jacket pocket unlocking the car. When I got in the passenger seat up front, forgetting that Hunk had shot-gun but it was a force of habit to sit up front with Lance, not my fault, he handed me the pup. I had no idea what to do with it except hold it close to my stomach, cradling it in my arms. 

 

«It’s not gonna bite you, Keith. Look at him, he’s so cute, yes he is.» Lance said while baby-talking the pup, ruffling his fur. I made a small giggle at the ridiculous face Lance was making at the dog while cuddling with it. 

 

«So, what do we do with the dog?» Pidge asked from the back seat already booting up her DS. 

 

It was a good question. We all stayed quiet in the car for a couple minutes before Lance suddenly jolted in his seat rushing to put on his seatbelt and start the car. He flung an arm around my seat to look back while he backed out of the parking lot. His blue-green eyes caught mine, his green specks sending a panic to my heart. I don’t know what it was, but when I saw Lance going towards those boys to save the dog had made my heart beat rapidly all the way up until now, I just hadn’t noticed the panic in my heart till his eyes caught mine in this moment. 

 

«I saw them coming this way. We should get out of here. How about a park for the dog to run around in while we discuss what to do with it?» Lance suggested, not moving the car, his blue-green gaze still focused on my stare. 

 

«Great idea, I can run into a pet store and buy a leash and a treat for it.» Hunk suggested, his large hand finding the pup’s head. The pup made a happy bark from all the attention it was getting. I felt grateful to Lance now taking the chance and showing the courage to stand up to those three guys, even if he did luck out from a cheap trick like making them believe the boy’s fly was open. Classic, I thought. It was like the scene came right out of a movie which suited Lance, well, since he loved watching movies. 

 

We got to a park nearby my house. Hunk and Pidge darted to the closest pet store with a twenty in their hands from my allowance. I felt I had to step up too so I happily obliged with buying the leash and treat for the poor pup. While they were in the store, Lance and I found a vacant picnic table to sit on, pup resting soundly on Lance’s lap. A smile tugged at my lips at the sight. 

 

«You weren’t really thinking on beating those boys up, were you?» I asked, petting the dog who was now sleeping off the hurt the boys had inflicted on him. 

 

«I don’t know. When I saw how scared the poor dog was I felt a sudden rage inside of me. He was so weak, and they were three big boys who didn’t care about it. I felt the need to step up and save it like I was meant to do something.» Lance admitted, a weak smile finding his face. «But I could have easily kicked their asses. You missed out on a good show, Kogane.» He then said having to get some brag out there. 

 

«I’m glad you didn’t got that far. I wouldn’t like it if you were kicked out of school for beating up three low lives. You’re better than that.» I suddenly said still petting the dog my eyes tipping up to meet a shimmer of green specks floating in an ocean. 

 

«Why? Would you miss me?» Lance asked, not looking at my face but down at the dog’s resting body moving gently up and down. 

 

He’d be shocked, but yeah, I would have missed him, a lot. He had become an important part of my everyday school life. School would be incredibly boring without him there. Sure, I had Pidge and Hunk but I could only see them so much during school. With Lance, we had every single class together, we had become a package deal in class. His laugh was something I expected to hear everyday, it would just be weird not hearing his laugh or hear him make a comment about how awesome he is or how he can get all the chicas. I felt a sudden heat burning my cheeks, like someone was pinching them for eternity. 

 

Fine, it was still his fault that I had to run against Lotor in the school election, but at the same time, being nominated to run against him spiced up our school life. Something was finally happening at GP for once, and it was because of Lance, because of his often stupid decisions, but they were decisions that seemed well thought out, but yeah, not really. I still hated him with a fiery passion for doing this to me, but he would just have to buy me a truck full of Birthday cake ice cream to make up for what he did. Especially if I wind up losing the election, he would have to treat me to something big, and I mean ice cream every day forever, big. 

 

«Keith? You there?» Lance waved a brown hand in my face, waking me from my sudden thoughts of him. The burn in my cheeks were still warm when I caught his tan face, blue eyes pinning me. I suddenly felt a constriction in my throat like someone was pouring water down it making it hard to form words. 

 

«Uhh, sorry. My mind was wandering. But yeah, if you had been suspended I’d have to hitch a ride with Adam again. Don’t want that.» I lied, everything I thought about in the span of ten seconds ago stayed with me it would weird him out if I told him any of that. 

 

«Yeah, sure. I get it. Hey Keith, at the movies. You never pulled your hand aw—» His voiced was deafened when we heard Pidge and Hunk running towards us in the distance with a blue leash in Pidge’s hand and a large bag full of treats in Hunk’s. Well, there were treats for the dog and Hunk. He had bought himself a big bag of skittles while the dog was given bacon bites. Our new little friend woke up immediately when Hunk ripped open the packet of bacon bites, a loud bark of happiness coming from the cute creature. 

 

Looking closely at our furry friend, it looked like a small wolf-hound. It was hard to figure out its breed, but I wanted to say it was more of a mix breed of husky and wolf. I would have to ask Shiro about that since he surprisingly enough knew a lot about dog breeds, something he had to know about working at a large precinct with different breeds of dogs roaming around when they were needed. 

 

My hand went back to the pup’s head, petting him while he bit into his bacon bite. Its fur was a dark gray and black color, with small patches of snowy white fur on his chest and back. It was a beautiful looking dog, if you looked past the scruffiness and how dirty he was. When it caught my own stare I was awestruck by how blue its eyes were. We were talking bluer than Lance’s, I felt mesmerized by the dog’s eyes, I felt the need to give him a big hug. 

 

«Does he have any owners?» Pidge asked, pulling a collar over its head then attaching the leash to the collar. The dog jumped off of Lance’s lap running around the park while Pidge held the long leash a wide smile finding her petite face. 

 

«He looks pretty beat up. And scrawny like he hasn’t had a decent meal in a long while. If he had owners we would have seen flyers around the neighborhood and in town.» Lance suggested, crossing his legs and arms staring at the happy dog running around the park chasing other dogs. 

 

«How do we know its a he?» I then asked, noticing the use of the pronoun towards the dog. 

 

«Well we can’t ask if he’s gender fluid or non-binary.» Pidge shot back, but laughed. «I saw his thingy, Keith. Don’t make me say it again, please.» She started running with the dog in circles. 

 

Hunk was busy sorting his skittles on the picnic table. «I’m not keeping him. I’m scared of dogs.» He said, picking up a red skittle squishing it between his thumb and index finger before eating it. Dude, what?

 

«But you just pet it.» I exclaimed. 

 

«Yeah, while it was sitting in your lap. If I’m alone with it who knows what kind of meal he thinks I am.» Hunk threw three more red skittles in his mouth shuddering at the thought of being eaten by a tiny dog. 

 

«Do you even hear how ridiculous that sounds!?» I shouted, stealing all of his red skittles. 

 

«Hey!» He shouted, shoveling the rest of the sorted skittles into his palm. 

 

«I can’t have the dog. I don’t see the point in furry animals.» Pidge pointed out, stopping up then started running again with the dog a new smile finding her face. She was obviously loving the dog, her point being invalid, but still, she owned a whole bunch of reptiles and her mother was Mrs. H. Who knows what deadly toxins was stored at their house, or the large snakes in Pidge’s room that could eat the poor pup. I shuddered at the thought, I always wanted to go to Hunk’s place for movie night because Pidge’s place always creeped the hell out of me. 

 

All three of us made a look at Lance who uncrossed his legs when the dog ran to him. He bent down on the bench to pet the dog when he said, «Don’t turn your gazes at me. I may be the hero of this story, but I can’t have him, my mom is deathly allergic to dogs. It’s a miracle she can even tolerate me.» Lance said, making baby noises again at the dog telling him how cute he was. I couldn’t not smile at that. 

 

Caught mid-smiling at Lance, they all steered their gazes towards me now. «I mean. Ruby had been nagging my dads about getting a puppy. Should we see this as some sort of sign?» I shrugged my shoulders warming up to the idea of keeping the pup. 

 

«Then it’s settled. Keith keeps the dog.» Lance rubbed his hands as a job well done until I shot a gloved hand up to his face, a finger pressing into his warm cheek. 

 

«All I said was that Ruby wanted a dog, not that I’m keeping it. I have two dads to persuade before anything can be official. One of those two dads being Shiro. He’ll be a nightmare to convince.» I noted them, crossing my arms to show them how serious the situation was. 

 

«Hey, you got me on your team, Keith. I’ve been told to be a smooth talker.» Lance got up, waving a brown hand at us to follow him back to the car. 

 

«It’s your funeral.» I muttered, walking in step with the gang to the car. 

 


	19. Guest

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've started writing on Google docs, so all of my fics will have " as dialog marks from now on. Sorry for the change, hope it's okay! Enjoy the chapter :))))

“As much as I’d love to see Lance up against Shiro, I need to get home. My mom has sent me four texts to get my ass home or else she’ll turn my snakes into new experiments. Can’t have any of that, Beavis and Butthead deserve better than that.” Pidge said from the backseat. 

 

“I’ll drive you home. Give Beavis and Butthead a kiss from Lancey-Lance. Hunk, home?” Lance asked from the driver’s seat taking a swift turn. His Tokyo Drift skills were still acutely deathly, but ever since driving with him my body had gotten used to it. Instead, it shocked me if he didn’t made hard turns. I felt that I needed the thrill from his driving in my everyday boring life. 

 

Hunk held a large hand covering his mouth, not being used to Lance’s driving yet. He had to swallow the bile that rose to his throat before he nodded to Lance’s question. “Yeah, my mom is making my favorite tonight. And some family friends are coming over with their daughter, it would be rude to blow them off.” 

 

“Hear ya loud and clear, can’t disappoint a chica. She’ll be happy to see you, big guy.” Lance winked a blue-green eye at Hunk in the mirror. 

 

Lance rolled into Pidge’s driveway first, the clock shining 8:30 P.M. She made it right before her own curfew. Mrs. H was standing in the doorway when she noticed Lance’s car pulling in. Lance rolled his window down to wave a brown hand at her. “Hey, Mrs. H! Hope you guys have a great night.” Lance told her giving her a toothy grin. 

 

Mrs. H. smiled back to Lance and to us. “You boys are always welcome to come over for any of my home-made lasagna. Hey pumpkin.” Mrs. H. yelled from the door, kissing her daughter on the top of her head. 

 

It was an adorable sight because Pidge hated it when her mother dolled her in front of her friends. She swatted her mother away, waving at us before they closed the door. Lance rolled his window up, giving me a new smile, ruffling the dog in my lap before backing out of Pidge’s driveway. 

 

“Time to get you to your chica, big guy.” Lance said, his arm finding the back of my seat. His stare caught mine looking at his arm. I didn’t know what I was thinking about at that moment, but Lance decided to swat the back of his hand in my face for fun before pulling it back to the wheel. I gave him a teasing look before his eyes focused back on the road, making a turn to Hunk’s place. 

 

In the car mirror on my side, I could make out Hunk’s stare at me. He was waggling his eyebrows at me like he knew something I didn’t. Back at him, I furrowed my brows not having the slightest idea what he was waggling his eyebrows about. Then he was making kissing faces at me pointing to Lance. I turned my head to Lance who was too focused on singing to the music, staring intently at the road. I looked back to Hunk, hitting him on the thigh, then making a  _ I’ll kill you look _ , my finger  tracing my throat  like I’d slit his throat. 

 

What was he doing thinking I liked Lance like that? I’m going to kill him if he thinks I like Lance. I don’t like him. I mean, I do like him, but not like that. We were only school friends, partners in science and I was his tutor, nothing else. Nope, nada, nothing. He was only coming to my house to help persuade to keep the poor dog, it wasn’t like he was meeting my parents. Shit. It had just dawned on me that Lance was officially, officially going to meet my parents, at my house. Ruby, after a lot of nagging, was finally going to meet Lance. How was this going to play out? I just hoped she would be too busy with the dog, or fast asleep, it was getting late. 

 

“Alright, casa di Hunk. Go get her, Tiger.” Lance turned around in his seat making a growl from his throat. Really? That wasn’t remotely sexy. 

 

Hunk looked sheepish in the back seat now getting nervous from Lance’s teasing him. “I don’t know. Maybe they’ve already left. My mom knew I was going out with you guys tonight.” 

 

“Nonsense, there’s an extra car here. They’re waiting for you, Hunk. Plus your ma made your fave right? Go impress that pretty daughter of theirs, she’s gonna love you. Who wouldn’t?” Lance had a wide smile on his face, he was so genuine when it came to Hunk I almost felt jealous. 

 

Hunk glowed at Lance’s words, mirroring his wide smile. “Okay, Hunky-hunk is gonna get the girl. See you guys on Monday, we’ll talk on the Cord.” Hunk made his way to the car door, opening it. 

 

“You better be on the Cord! We’re gonna need all the deets! Say hi to your parents!” Lance yelled from the car waving Hunk bye. 

 

“Then there were two.” Lance said, then looked down at my lap, the dog barking happily at his face, “Sorry pal, three.” He ruffled the dog’s head. 

 

On the ride to my house I noticed Lance was making a hard thinking face. His turns were calm, they were oddly for him, they were normal. I didn’t feel the need to catch the handle or hold on to the dog’s life whenever he made a turn. “Hey, you okay? You’re driving like a 90 year-old. What’s up?” I asked him, could he have caught on that he was finally meeting my parents like for real. 

 

Yeah, he’s met Adam a million times in good times and bad, but this felt, different. If it were a good different or a bad different, I hadn’t decided yet. But still, it’s a Saturday night and he was coming home to my house, a personal place. We were totally violating rule number three. My instincts told me that was exactly what was on his mind. 

 

“Hey, for tonight only, we’ll abolish rule number three. But, don’t get too far with your questions. You know, if you have any.” I pet the dog’s head, getting closely acquainted with him. I hoped Shiro would say yes, I needed this dog in my life. He loved Lance and having him stay at my place told me I would maybe see a lot more to Lance than I usually did. Not that I didn’t see him enough. 

 

“It’s not that. And I wouldn’t want to violate your private life, Kogane. But thanks for abolishing the rule for tonight. No take-backs” He slapped my shoulder, “But it was what you said earlier. I know Adam’s the principle, so what does Shiro do? I never asked about that. Come to think of it, I don’t know anything about Shiro.” 

 

It was true, I hardly ever talked about Shiro. Our relationship is a difficult topic to talk about. It brought back too many painful memories. Hell, I love him so much for being a part of my life, and giving me a home and a new family but whenever people asked about how we came to living together and him adopting me, we always avoided talking about it. All we ever said if anyone asked was that he was my cousin and that my parents died when I was very young. If people learnt the truth, I’m afraid it would be too much for them. Not only that, I would get triggered and hide in my room for another three months. Just thinking about this now made my body go slack. I could feel my sight starting to get blurry. 

 

“Yeah, I avoid talking about Shiro on purpose. We don’t exactly have the best father-son relationship. But, I love him to death. We just have too much history, most of it being painful.” I chose not to say anything more. I didn’t want Lance to make that face everyone else who already knew about my situation made. It hurt too much, and Lance deserved to stay happy. Also, I don’t know If I could take him feeling sorry for me. 

 

“Hey, rule number three’s abolishment doesn’t start until we walk through your front door, so I won’t pry. I can see how much this is hurting you. Your brows always furrow, along with your nose flaring all cute when your in pain or thinking too much. This conversation is now, done.” Lance pulled into my driveway, dying the car. 

 

He didn’t unbuckle his seatbelt when the car stood completely still in the driveway, the only lighting coming from the lamp on the garage. In the windows, the lights were definitely still on indication someone was home at least, who, I wasn’t quite sure. 

 

“You mentioned earlier when we ran from the hoodlums that we had two dads in the law. Is Shiro a police officer?” Lance asked, his voice going sheepish. 

 

Was that what was causing him to drive like an old lady? Was he maybe scared that Shiro would find some kind of record on him? Did he even have a record? Sure, he was a delinquent at a high-school, but that didn’t mean he did illegal things on the side like a criminal. All he did that was considered criminal was how many movies he had pirated on his computer, not including all the thousands of songs he had burned on an old mp3 player. Seriously, he had nothing to worry about. Except for Shiro’s prejudices he had about him. 

 

“Yeah, he’s captain of his precinct. You scared he’s gonna find out about your illegally downloaded movie collection? You know, you can get lifetime for that, right?” I joked, but his face was going green and not the good specks-in-irises kind. 

 

“Really!? This was why you looked scared shitless on the drive over? I was scared you’d kill someone and needed someone to help hide the body.” The dog yelped in my lap from my sudden shifting around in the car. I was so pissed, I karate chopped Lance on the head, unbuckling my belt. “Come on, let’s pray Shiro isn’t home yet. We’re gonna need to time to prepare.” I said while opening the door, the dog leaping out of the car blue leash to its collar. 

 

“Would you help me?” Lance asked, locking his car. 

 

“What?” I asked, craning my neck to him on the way to my front door. 

 

“With the body?” He said, inching close to my face, his voice tingling the back of my neck. 

 

He knew how much I hated guts, and limbs, and cuts and barf, gag, hating this. “Did you really kill someone, Lance?” I asked, my voice faltering when we reached the door. He was right behind me now, the dog waggling his tail on the doorstep. 

 

“Would you?” He only asked, I could feel his signature smile tugging behind me.

 

It didn’t take much thought. “Of course.” I said, opening the door, “I’m home.” I peeled off my red leather jacket along with pulling off my boots. I made a motion with my hand to drag Lance in the house. 

 

He was hesitant at first, feeling like a vampire needing a verbal permission to come inside. I made an exasperated noise then tugged on his collar pulling him in the house. “Hey, Keith. Keep it down, I just put Ruby to bed, oh…Hey Lance.” Adam was drying a glass in his hand when he made it to the front door. He smiled a welcomed smile at Lance then furrowed his light brown bushy brows when a loud bark sounded in the hall. I forgot about our new houseguest. “Keith, you know there’s a dog in the house.”

 

Lance pulled off his blue bomber jacket and kicked off his white sneakers. He inched hesitantly further into the house taking in the living room on the left then the kitchen further down the hall on the right. While he was getting acquainted with my house, I bent down to pick up our new furry friend. “Yeah, we found him being harassed by three idiotic seniors. Lance saved him.” I nodded my head towards Lance’s prying back. He was opening doors, now opening the door to a closet, holding both arms up to save himself from an actual broom falling on his face. 

 

“Really? But why is he here, in our house? Shiro’s not home yet. Had to work late, new case came up.” Adam said while bending down to face the dog, petting him. He was falling for him already. “You’re lucky Ruby’s asleep, she’d go crazy if—”

 

“PUPPYYYYYYY!!!!” 

 

“Dog must have woken her up. Damn. No we’ve done it. Good luck with persuading Shiro, it’ll be your funeral.” Adam went back to the kitchen while Ruby ran down in light-speed to the dog. I dropped the dog on the floor, moving towards Lance. 

 

Ruby was cradling the dog in her arms, forgetting about the rest of the world or noticing that Lance was in the house. Right at that moment, when I thought we would have all the time in the world, the door opened up spilling in a captain. “Hey guys, I’m home.” 


	20. Persuasion

My mind was spinning when I heard the door behind me open up. At that moment, with Ruby on the floor by the stairs playing with the dog, and Lance giving me a confused look in front of me, I felt like packing my bags and moving to the moon.

 

When Shiro came through the door, he looked happy. He was holding a bottle of red wine, him and Adam’s indulgence every Saturday, his uniform looked crisp and clean, his black eyes crinkled at the corners with delight until his black eyebrows decided to shoot up when he took in the show in the door’s opening. 

 

First he looked at the stairs, “Ruby? Why are you still awake?” He directed his gaze to Adam who was coming back from the kitchen now wearing yellow rubber gloves. Before Adam could open his mouth, Shiro’s dark eyes went quickly back to Ruby, “And is that a puppy? Adam! What did I say?” He made an annoyed tone with his voice while peeling off his captain’s jacket, and shiny black boots. His light blue shirt and tie underneath looked disheveled as he pulled his jacket off. 

 

“Look daddy! Keith brought home a dog!” Ruby squeaked all happily petting the dog. Her dark brown eyes found mine giving me a smile, I smiled back to her but stopped when she shot up to her little legs running to hug a pair of longer legs. “Lance! You came!! Look daddy, Keith brought Lance home, too! Keith loves you Lance!” She was jumping up and down while hugging on to Lance’s legs. Her comment made me want to run away from the universe.  

 

The sight was actually adorable, and Lance’s grimace was priceless, I don’t think he was anticipating Ruby to be this crazy about him. Neither did I, though. When she told him that stupid comment, I had to look away and hope Lance didn’t think anything of it. Kids could say the darndest things. There wasn’t time to explain Ruby’s comment, since my mind was still spinning.

 

We had three problems on our hands at the moment. One: Ruby was awake after bedtime. Two: the dog. Then lastly, there was Lance. Shiro wasn’t a stranger to talk about his feelings regarding my new delinquent. He would always comment on his picking me up every morning and driving me home asking if he drove the speed limit, followed the signs properly, which he did, to a limit. Then there was always the commenting on my tutoring him, how he couldn’t even know basic history or algebra. It always bugged me to the point that I sometimes wanted to rip off his fluffy, black hair to let him know that some people aren’t good in all subjects. Just take me for instance, I don’t get straight As in everything. I have a C in Spanish, and a B- in science. Shiro had to just chill when it came to Lance, stop giving him these stupid names, like moron or hopeless delinquent, he was so much more than that. 

 

Before I faced Shiro, I quickly looked at Lance and Ruby. They were already getting to know each other. Lance was down on his hunches, talking to Ruby while petting the dog. Adam, standing next to me, was smiling in their direction before he directed his gaze to his husband. 

 

“Should we all maybe take a seat in the living room?” Adam suggested, looking to his husband, then at me, Lance and Ruby. The dog barked in approval. 

 

Ruby found a comfy spot in Lance’s lap with the dog resting soundly next to them on the couch. I found a spot next to the dog, petting its head. Adam sat comfortably on the chaise of the L-shaped couch, his long legs spread out to the edge. Shiro, the one we had to convince and discuss this with, he found his rightful seat on the bright yellow recliner, his dark gray eyes pinning us all to our seats. Ruby was laughing looking at Lance, her little hands squishing his cheeks together. 

 

“Ruby, leave Lance alone for two minutes, we need to talk to daddy.” I pulled at her cheek for fun, she made a pouting face but Lance hugged her to him to get that smile back. 

 

“First of all.” Said Shiro, getting up to shake Lance’s hand. Formalities weren’t made yet, but I could understand why. Things were going crazy in the Shirogane-West-Kogane house, something that hardly ever happened on a Saturday night. “It’s nice to finally meet you, Lance. Keith talks a storm about you.” He smiled, -smiled!- when he grabbed Lance’s hand. 

 

“Back at ya, Captain Shiro, uh, sir.” Lance wasn’t sure how to approach Shiro, but when their hands gripped, Shiro made an impressed look towards their hands. Guess Lance was good at making first impressions. 

 

“Shiro is good enough. How is my kid treating you? Want me to arrest him?” Shiro jokes.  _ Oh no _ , I thought. He’s just as bad as Adam with the stupid dad jokes. I thought he was going to be super strict and interrogate him like he did with the convicts he took in everyday. But here they were chatting about me, with smiles on their faces. 

 

I felt a pillow smack my face. “Looks like it’s going well. You should have brought him over earlier. Be careful so that Shiro or Ruby doesn’t steal him away.” Adam joked when he leaned in to me. 

 

“Shouldn’t you be the worried one? He’s your husband, and she’s your kid.” I said back with a dark, irritated tone. Why did everyone have to comment about Lance with me. I was only his tutor. We weren’t even friends! He was only here to help persuade my parents since he told me he was a smooth talker! 

 

“Alright, now we need to talk about the issue about our new furry friend.” Shiro was back in the recliner, leaned forward to take in the poor pup. “Tell me what happened.” He looked to Lance and I. 

 

So we both told my parents what happened. How Pidge found the boys hurting the dog in the alley. How Lance went in courageously to stop them without pulling any fists on them. How we found out it didn’t have any owners and discussed among our group why I was the only option to bring the dog home. Besides, he looked like he fit right in resting soundly on the couch, his body resting gently, feeling safe. 

 

Ruby was still in Lance’s lap, bobbing her head side to side. “Daddy, I love him. We need to keep him. Lance saved him for us!” She told Shiro, her dark eyes turning into those big, little puppy dog eyes he never could say no to. 

 

“Yeah, Captain. You guys have a great, loving family. The dog fits in perfectly here. If I were a dog, and had Ruby as my owner, I’d never leave.” He hugged Ruby close to him again. I almost felt jealous he was going to steal her away from me, taking my  _ best big brother in the world  _ mug with her. 

 

Adam caught my staring at Lance when he said those nice words about our little family. Lucky for me, Adam couldn’t feel how hard my heart was beating looking at Lance piecing himself so perfectly into our own family. “What?” I leaned into Adam. 

 

Adam only smiled, shaking his head like it wasn’t the time to talk about it. “It’s nothing, kid. Just a dad thing.” 

 

Ruby hopped out of Lance’s lap then into Shiro’s giving him a hug and a big kiss on his cheek. Her trump card. “Please, daddy. Me and Keef promise to take really good care him. Lance can come over all the time and help too!” 

 

Lance caught my stare, a smile finding his face while he pet the dog. I smiled back, feeling a slight prickly sensation tingling all over my cheeks and fingers, my heart-beat decided to double its pace too. We both looked to Shiro when he said, “Can’t argue against that, I guess. Fine. We’ll keep the dog. But, Keith, he’ll be your responsibility.” Shiro held a pale finger at me. 

 

“Hey! He’s my responsibility too, daddy!” Ruby huffed out like a little demanding woman.

 

“Someone needs to go to bed! But let’s clean the dog first.” Adam got up to gather Ruby and the dog with him to the bathroom upstairs. 

 

Ruby called for the dog to follow her by saying, “Come on Kosmo, we’re gonna take a bath!” The dog reacted instantly to his new name. 

 

“Kosmo? We’re not calling him Kosmo!” But I was instantly defeated when Ruby shot me a deathly glare, holding Adam’s hand, the dog on her side giving me a  _ why you scared of this little human  _ look. 

 

When they left for the bathroom, I steered my gaze back to Shiro and Lance who were talking. I could hear my name in their conversation wondering what they were talking about. “Seriously, I’m sitting right here.” I remarked, hoping they remembered how close I was and that I could hear them. 

 

“No need to worry, Keith. I’m not trying to embarrass you in front of your friend.” Shiro started, but my mind was another place when he said the word friend. Were we considered friends? We did start hanging out a lot ever since he landed me in detention and when I was assigned to be his tutor, but I never thought our relationship had developed that much within a time-span of two and half weeks. 

 

“Yeah, Mullet. We were just discussing some of your tutoring tactics. I got a B- on my history report by the way, the one about that one chick.” Lance chuckled. 

 

Shiro made a scrunched face at Lance’s choice of words.  _ You’ll get used to it, _ I thought. But it was fun to see them getting along. I felt a whole weight lifted off of me. “You mean Jeanne d’Arc. Is it so hard to forget? You wrote like four pages about her.” I face-palmed, sitting closer to him after the dog left his place from the couch. 

 

“A B-! Well look at that, I knew my son had it in him. You’re lucky Lance, having Keith on your side. I heard about the election. Got any plans for a campaign?” He then asked, grabbing a glass of red wine when Adam came into the room again. 

 

Adam went back to the same position on the couch before he left, a glass of red wine in his own brown hand. “Yeah, they even have a team name. What was it again, Keith?” 

 

Oh no. Don’t let me say it, this was all Lance’s idea. I didn’t even go along with the team name, I was forced into it. But, parents, they would never understand. “Team Voltron…” I said with a low voice, feeling like digging a hole. 

 

Adam and Shiro beamed at the name, each taking a sip of their wine. “I like it! So, strategy plan to win? Bake sales? Buttons, posters, speech?” Shiro was way too into this, so was Lance. 

 

“We took a bunch of photos yesterday at the arcade. We’re going to make posters and buttons during this week, then our main focus will be to get more expenses for different things we need at the school. Also, we thought about focusing on more field trips and having the whole school go on the annual ski-trip instead of only the juniors and seniors. The freshman and sophomores felt it was unfair that they had to wait until junior year to go on that trip.” said Lance, taking a deep breath before diving back in, “Hunk will do the baking, we’re going to lure a lot of voters with his magical triple chocolate chips cookies. Pidge is going to do the math and statistics to see how our chances are in the voting process. We only have like three weeks before Keith has to make a big speech, then the voting is only a couple days after. Man, you guys are so late with this.” Lance pointed out since it was his first time at GP. 

 

“It’s Lotor’s fault. He always drags the elections since he thinks we don’t need one. The students go along with it knowing no one would be nominated, but he’s obligated to mention that there can be an opportunity to have someone run against him. Hence, the drag. But I think three weeks can be enough time to win against that sick son of a—”

 

“Adam, honey. He’s a student of yours.” Said Shiro giving him a stern look, taking a new long sip of his wine, “Allow me.” He stared at Lance and I, “To win against that sick son of a bitch.” Shiro took a new rewarding sip of his wine. They should drink wine more often. 

 

Lance glanced at his phone, “I need to bounce, my ma is gonna kill me if I’m not home yet.” He said, a grim look finding his face. 

 

“You sure? We can call her, and you can stay for some food? It’s only 9:30. Don’t you have the same curfew as Keith?” Adam asked, giving me a smile and a quick wink. Seriously, were they trying to court me with Lance? 

 

“Nah, can’t tonight. But, thanks for the offer. Rain check?” Lance got up, shaking Shiro’s hand again, then giving Adam his signature military sign. 

 

“I’ll follow you out.” I said, getting up in step with him. 

 

While Lance made his way to the door, I looked behind me to give Adam and Shiro a glare that told them to stay put. Adam held his hands up in defeat, Shiro smiling at his husband downing his wine glass. 

 

“So, why do you have to leave? You have like an hour before curfew…” I noted, a little hurt that he had to leave already, specially when he was getting along with my dads. 

 

Lance pulled on his blue bomber jacket, and stepped into his white sneakers. “My sis is over from uni and if my parents can’t brag about her without me hearing them, they’d skin me alive.” He made a pained face, one I had seen before. Did he have trouble at home? I really wanted to talk to him about this, but, rule number three was reapplied now that the evening was over. 

 

“Sure, I get it. I think. I don’t have any older siblings, but, parents.” I leaned in to catch Adam and Shiro cosying up to each other with each their own glass of wine watching a movie. “They can be really annoying.” I told Lance, but felt a jealous pang when I saw my dads. 

 

“They’re great by the way, your family.” Lance said, not wanting to leave. I could see it on his face. 

 

“Yeah, Ruby loves you already. I’m scared she’s going to steal you away from me.” My mouth hung open when I noticed my choice of words. “Well, uh, you know if you ever come over to be with the dog, she’ll steal all the attention.” I tried to steer the conversation away from my sudden slip. 

 

“Ruby’s awesome, but I can see how much she loves you, Keith. How can she not love you the most.” Lance suddenly said, the green flecks in his eyes pulling me forward. 

 

It got quiet. Lance’s hand was resting on the handle of the front door, ready to pull it down but his eyes were still pinned to mine. “Keith! Did he leave!?” Adam called from the living room. 

 

His voice woke us from our staring contest. “We’ll talk on the Cord, play a couple rounds tomorrow? See you on Monday, Keith.” He opened the door. 

 

“Yeah, definitely. Monday.” I said low, thinking Monday was too far away. My gloved hand turned into a fist bumping his shoulder. I let it linger for ten seconds until Lance closed the door in my face, a smile finding me before he closed it. 

 

Adam came into view when my hand found the door, thinking about my relationship with Lance. Were we friends now? “Hey, that went well. Did he have a good time? We should invite him over for dinner some time. Ruby would love that.” Adam interrupted my thoughts, some other words left unsaid at the mention of Ruby loving having him over. 

 

“Yeah, it went really well. I just…I dunno, he didn’t look happy, Adam. Is everything alright with him at home?” I asked, making my way in to the living room to continue the movie. 

 

“Not that I know of. I’ve only met his parents once. They seem like normal, good parents. If something is going on with Lance. All you need to do is talk to him. He might need a friend like you, Keith. Come on, we just started the movie, Shiro got you your favorite soda.” Adam pulled me into the room, my thoughts still thinking about Lance. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been writing so much on this fic...that I've realized how slow this burn is going to be. Hope you still want to keep on reading. :)


	21. Thoughts

Over the course of the next two weeks, Team Voltron’s campaign was well on its way of winning votes. With some well thought out planning from Lance, Pidge, Hunk and yours truly, we were able to harness in a lot of voters. Some students even wanted to start a Voltron fan club in our name. 

 

During the first week, our team met at Hunk’s place since they had the most spacious garage to make posters. Also, his parents didn’t mind the mess we made. Meaning, we had a lot of posters to cover with blue and red glitter. Lance’s idea, not mine. It was so much fun though. Hunk’s mom had made amazing waffles that day while we had our little arts and crafts session. 

 

Lance thought it was fun to throw handfuls of blue and red glitter all up in my face yelling “Razzle, dazzle, Keith!” It was not funny, it took more than four showers to get all the glitter out. I swear I could still taste the glitter on my tongue, and in between my teeth. Not only that, whenever I was around Lance, his cheek would suddenly have a piece of glitter stuck to it. Why did he think glitter was a good idea? 

 

Fine, it was a great idea. A lot of students who passed by our posters of either my face trying to look like a president, and the one Lance took of me playing Pac-Man at the arcade, stopped up to point out how blindingly awesome the posters were. Lance knew what he was doing as campaign manager, I won’t take any credit there. 

 

After our arts and crafts session at Hunk’s place. Pidge had to pull me to the side for a quiet chat. I wouldn’t call it quiet, since it was about Lance. She steered me away from the garage, leaving Hunk and Lance to continue writing on the large white posters with bright purple markers, and eating waffles. 

 

She had her hands on her hips that day, throwing a stern look at Lance then craning it back to me, “Does Lance know that you like him?” Pidge had suddenly asked that day. 

 

Her question had taken me off guard with so much surprise, I was lost for longer than eternity. I wanted to hop on to a rocket and travel to the furthest planet away anyone could think of in the galaxy and never come back. 

 

Evidently, when I landed back on Earth, then back outside Hunk’s garage, I grabbed hold of Pidge’s shoulders to bend her down to whisper-scream in her ear, “What the fuck are you talking about? You’re crazy, I don’t like Lance. We’re not even friends, Pidge.” My voice turned into desperation neglecting the fact that I would like Lance.  _ No chance in hell, _ I thought.  

 

When I unbent ourselves, I turned around quickly to see if Hunk or Lance caught our little talk. They were still enraptured in their creative bubbles. Lance was singing with waffles in his mouth, making my own mouth quirk up to a corner.

 

“Seriously, Keith. It’s so obvious. How do you not like Lance? You instantly smile as soon as he’s in your peripheral vision. If mom was here she would be able to smell the attraction from a mile away. So, don’t tell me you’re not friends. You guys are obviously more than that.” She crossed her arms, giving me an incredulous look like  _ you are dumber than you think, dude.  _

 

No, I wasn’t. No way in hell did I like Lance that way. If that was the way she was implying during the time she said it. We hadn’t talked much about it since then. Mostly because I turned into a feral animal ready to give her rabies every time she decided to bring it up again. 

 

Sure, we did tease each other a lot. Lance always had a stupid nickname ready for me, he loved to smack me in the face with his dumb, big brown hand. Whenever we bought ice-cream, he would smear it all over my nose, then call me an ice-queen that he would love to melt. _Oh man,_ it went up for me that we were flirting.  _ Gods, I am dumb. _

 

Flash forward to today, two weeks later, and Pidge’s stupid little question popped into my head again, jolting me awake. Lance and I were watching a boring movie during Miss Allura’s class about World War II. Of course, I love history, but the world wars had to be the most boring topics known to man or alien. They were just too, recent. I loved the older history, all the way back to the roman era or even further back. Back when history made our lives today seem too boring, too controlled. 

 

Next to me in the dark classroom, Lance was half-asleep, wearing a button with my face on it and written in purple glitter lettering:  _ Vote for Keith, the future, _ pinned to his favorite dark blue shirt. He had them made during the first week of our busy campaign schedule. We had also managed to snag a lot of voters because of Hunk’s awesome triple chocolate chip cookies. Man, what I would do to have my teeth sink into one right now instead of watching this boring flick with Hitler giving his famous speech on the screen. 

 

My gaze went to Miss Allura sitting by her desk paying attention to the movie. We didn’t know who she was siding with because some days she was wearing one of my pins, and on other days she would help Lotor with one of his little - actually really big - schemes. Like the other day, Lotor had snagged the whole freaking marching band to parade in the halls with himself leading at the front, throwing posters of my face on it and a big red X marked on to it. We found out that Miss Allura had given him the approval to borrow the marching band since she’s their conductor on the side. Lance felt betrayed that day he found out, actually pulling a cookie out of her hand saying she was a fraud and something else that I’d rather not say out loud. 

 

I was scared he’d be suspended for yelling at a teacher, but I think Miss Allura understood Lance’s feelings. Even I felt betrayed. She had always shown some form of disgust towards Lotor. What brought her to say yes to help him was beyond any of us. Hunk joked that maybe her and Lotor were a thing, but that would be too ridiculous. Wouldn’t it? 

 

We knew teachers couldn’t vote, but we still had hoped to have most of them on our side to help persuade Lotor’s voters to switch sides. I didn’t have much to promise the students of GP besides doing a better job than Lotor. Lance had proposed to gain more expenses for, for example the annual ski trip, something a lot of students thought was something valid to grant and would make a good promise to gain more votes. Aside from that, I had no idea what other promises presidents made to their students.

 

Some days during the last two weeks, I would do or say whatever Lance told me to do or say because I had no idea what to do or say. One of the days last week, I broke down in an empty classroom again. My anxiety got to me, bad. No one knew about my problems and the memories haunting my mind. I did everything I could so that no one was able to figure me out. So at times I would find an empty classroom or the music room usually to break down and cry my eyes out. Sure, that might seem sad, but it helped, every time. I had too many feelings inside me that had to come out at times, and crying was always my medicine. But, if Lance or the gang ever found out, I would be seen as a huge pussy or they would tell me to back out of the race. Never, not when we were so close to the actual vote. 

 

“This movie is fucking boring, Keith.” Lance whimpered next to me in class, leaning a brown head on my shoulder threatening to fall completely asleep. 

 

I let his head rest on my shoulder, mostly because I didn’t want to draw any attention to Miss Allura. Her look was enough to kill, and we didn’t have time to die at the moment. We still had more campaigning to do before I had to give my big speech. 

 

“Five more minutes, McClain, until the bell rings. Hold out.” I bumped my head onto his, a low chuckle escaping his throat under my chin. 

 

Maybe Pidge did have a point with her question. Having Lance resting his head on my shoulder would never have been admitted by me over a month ago. We hated each other, something that has cooled off lately the more time we spend together. Pretty much every day had Lance in it. If it were being in his car to and from school, being in class with him, eating lunch with him, having him follow me to the bathroom all the time, being lab partners, hanging out at the arcade after school or going to the movies, coming over to watch a silly kids show with Ruby. All these things we did together and it never dawned on me that Lance and I, we might actually be friends. Not only that, I knew now that I actually felt attracted to him. 

 

I shot up from my chair as the realization hit me hard, right smack in the face. “Keith? What is it, there’s still a minute left before the bell rings.” Miss Allura called, pausing the movie on a still frame of Hitler looking at me with a shocked stare. 

 

Lance had toppled over, regaining himself after his head lolled off my shoulder without any warning. “Uhm, bathroom.” I pointed to the door, asking Miss Allura for a confirmation. She must have read my panicked look nodding to let me go. 

 

“Can I go with him?” Lance called, she made a bored look his way, no need to answer because he would follow along no matter her answer. “Great, thanks, Lur!” He called, following after me when I opened the door spilling out in the hall. 

 

I knew I wouldn’t be able to shake Lance off of me when I made my way to the boys bathroom, so I turned around to look at him, stopping up in the middle of the soon to be flooded with students, corridor. “Can I go to bathroom, alone. I might need some privacy.” I said, giving him a look that would hopefully make him think of something else besides my need to scream my lungs out. 

 

“Gotcha. Catch ya at lunch?” Lance said, giving me finger guns, then he ruffled my bangs. 

 

“Sure.” I said, my hands finding my red hoodie pocket. 

 

On my way to the boys bathroom, I caught the music room. It was empty when I opened the door, to then lock it behind me when I found my way inside. The lights stayed off so that I could sit with my thoughts in the dark. 

 

When the floor caught my back, I stared up at the ceiling reaching a gloved hand up at it letting it float loosely in the air. Did I like Lance? Like really like him? No doubt about it, the guy was attractive as hell. His smile was bright and brilliant, his laugh was contagious and those eyes. I could agree on one thing about this stupid discussion in my head; I was definitely attracted to him. I could feel that pull, but if I liked him in a romantic way was still undiscussed. It was a territory I did not want to tread into just yet. I didn’t have time for romance, let alone delve into what romance meant for a person. I was never given the chance to feel love for another person in that way except for my family. 

 

Whenever I thought about what happened to me in the past, I blamed it on my bad ability to love. It took me a long time to trust anyone after the incident, let alone feel the will to love someone close again. When Shiro took me in, I hated him to the core at the age of 8 years old. I hated everything and everyone. I didn’t need love, and love didn’t want me. It felt like the world had decided that my person; me, myself and I, didn’t need more love in his life. When I was 7, love had decided to execute me by doing something terrible to me; steal away the will to know love ever again, to feel safe ever again. 

 

Tears had found my eyes, feeling the warm, wetness streaming down the sides of my face. It burned, but it felt good. This was exactly what I needed. I needed this confirmation. I didn’t have any feelings towards Lance, only pure attraction. Nothing less, nothing more. I knew I would never do anything about it, just let it take its course. If I ever felt the need to drag him to my face, then I’ll find a dark room, cry it out, pretend it never happened. 

 

Happy with finally figuring out my feelings towards a certain delinquent, I took a quick glance at my phone. While being blinded by the fluorescent light of my phone, I noticed lunch was almost over. The others would wonder where I had been. Time for excuses, but no worries there, I was good at excuses. I was an excuse of a tutor anyways. Lance would never see me as his friend, I thought when I opened the door being hit by a raging ocean. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some angst is needed. Keith needs some love <3


	22. Light

There was less than a school week left before I had to give my big speech in front of the whole school. Lance and I had a small falling out the day I found out I was attracted to him. He found me leaving the music room that day, catching my eyes stained red from crying. I remembered the look on his face as clear as the look of her face when the shard came pummeling down towards my skin. 

 

It was a horrifying pain I saw on his face. When he opened his mouth in that moment to ask what was wrong, I tried to walk quickly past him telling him to leave it, that it was nothing, none of his business. He didn’t listen to me, of course. Instead, he pulled on my red hood that day and dragged me back into the music room. 

 

His voice was low when he pulled me into the room, keeping the light dimmed. He found a dimmer by the door when he closed it, probably not to be scoped out by any teachers roaming the halls. As he turned around, his look told me how worried he was when he caught my cried out face. 

 

“Are you okay, Keith? Like really? I thought we were doing well with the campaign. Did Lotor threaten you, or any of those bitchy lesbians? I can go tear a new-” 

 

I held a hand up into his face, stopping him from going ballistic. There was no need. He didn’t need to know what I was doing in here, or what I was thinking about for that matter. Although, he did deserve to hear about my thoughts on this whole campaign situation.

 

The bell had rung indicating that fourth period was starting, but we both stayed put in the music room staring each other down. I let out a huffed breath, balling my fists to help give me courage to pour out some of my locked away feelings.

 

“Well...uhh...I don’t think I’ll do a good job as student body president, Lance. It’s all too much. No one at school knows who I am. They either know me as Adam’s son, or the schools golden boy.” I was quiet for a moment before I said, “Listen...y-you were right. I am a nobody. I don’t see the use of being a part of this anymore…” I felt my ducts were threatening to spill out new tears. 

 

In that moment, that day in the music room, Lance did something unexpected. He closed the gap between us and hugged me. Having his warm body pressed up against my own, smelling his familiar scent of spearmint and woodsmoke eased every tension I felt in my body. I went slack in his arms, the tears that were threatening to spill did spill but more in a relieved kind of way. It was exactly what I needed. 

 

His arms were slung around my back, being careful not to bump into the wound even if it had healed pretty well by then. My own arms wrapped around him at that moment, and we stood there in the almost dark, hugging each other. Nothing else was needed at the time. His body sort of coalesced with mine giving me all the confidence I was praying for. 

 

After a while, we finally let go. Lance’s blue-green eyes shimmering in the dark, they were impossible to ignore. I wanted to swim in him, be a part of his universe forever at that time. He hesitantly lifted his hand towards my face, but I didn’t go feral so he dared to cup one of my cheeks, giving me a toothy grin. “You’ll never be nobody to me, Keith. If everyone can see who I see in front of me, you’ll win with flying colors.” Lance had said that day, causing my heart to almost explode. 

 

By that time, I was still focused on my relationship with Lance. Pidge’s question from our arts and crafts day was still floating in my head, creating a flurry of confusion in my brain and in my heart. When Lance told me those words in the music room, all I did was thank him, hoping he didn’t catch on to how hard my heart was beating, and how warm my body felt against his. He had no idea what he could do to a person, even me. 

 

Nothing else happened that day. I was scared he was going to pull a fast one on me, calling me a coward for having those thoughts about not wanting to run for president anymore, but he didn’t. We skipped fourth period to hug, a hug that confirmed a lot of unspoken thoughts I had in my head for a while. 

 

Today, almost a week later. Lance and I have been normal. No more hugs, nor more crying. We still bickered, I still see him as a no-good, self-absorbed, delinquent; but after that day in the music room, I decided to see him as my friend. Not that I told him that, yet. He still thinks I hate him. The rules still applied. Whenever he tried to pry into my private life, I’d refer to the rules. I could see on his face how much he hated our rules, but they were necessary. He still didn’t need to know too much, even if he did stay at my house all the time. Ruby’s fault, not mine. 

 

We had third period off today, which was perfect timing for us to start on my speech. My speech was going to be given in two days and I hadn’t even started on it. Lance had said earlier that he would be my words so now was his time to,  _ razzle dazzle,  _ as he would say. 

 

“Music room?” Lance asked when we roamed the halls for a free room to wrack our minds to create a damn good speech. 

 

At his suggestion of the music room, I felt a light flutter in my stomach. It had only been a week since he hugged me in the music room, but our hug still lingered on my skin. “Sure.” I said in a low voice, avoiding his blue gaze. 

 

We both stood in front of the door not opening it. Lance shot a brown hand at the handle but said before he opened the door, “Hey, about the last time we were in here.” His voice went shaky. 

 

“Yeah?” I felt my own voice going shaky. 

 

He craned his neck to look at me. The green specks in his eyes were dancing in a bright blue sea. “I just want you to know that, if you feel like backing out, even if we are so close to the end. Uhmm…well I wouldn't mind taking over for you. You know like stepping in as your backup. If you feel like throwing up on stage when you give your speech, I’ll swoop in and save the day.” He grinned, opening the door. 

 

Strange. My whole body felt strange around him whenever we were alone. He was still Lance, a delinquent. He hadn’t changed much since that day he landed us in detention. Just the other day, Adam had to call him in to his office after he set three cherry bombs off in the boys bathroom. Seriously, I would have thought hanging out with me and the gang would change him to the extent that setting off cherry bombs weren’t needed. But no, he was still Lance. 

 

We stepped into the music room, turning the lights all the way up this time. When the lights turned on, if felt like being in the room for the first time. Usually, whenever I came in here to cool off any heated tension in my head, the room would always stay dark. Thinking back to our hug, the music room was still dimly lit, it was now in the bright light that I was able to take in that the room was quite large for its size and that there were a bunch of instruments spread along the walls, and different kinds of lighting on the ceiling. Who would have thought? Well, it was the music room, guess it was expected. 

 

Lance got comfortable on a random chair in the middle of the room, peeling forth a notebook and a pencil. He held the pencil close to his lips, smiling behind it. I tried to scope out a desk or a table we could place the notebook on, but there was no luck. I grabbed at a chair and pulled it next to Lance. 

 

“So, any ideas what you want your speech to be about?” He asked, nibbling gently on the end of the pencil. 

 

Bite marks were making their way on the yellow pencil, distracting me from thinking about anything at the moment. “Huh? I’m not sure. Public speeches aren’t exactly my strong suit, but it should be a good one at least.” I joked. 

 

I knew Lance had talent when it came to writing. If it were a poem, lyrics or a three page essay about hot dogs, he would still make it worth the reader’s time. “I trust you, blow me away with your words.”

 

The bite marks got even deeper as he tried to think up an introduction for my speech. “How about,  _ Students of GP, it is I, Keith Kogane, your future _ ?” His mouth quirked at the mention of me being the future. 

 

“Sure, sounds alright. Not sure if it sounds like me though.” I commented, but I wasn’t even sure myself if I had a voice that would make it through to the students of GP. 

 

After a while of nit picking on words and what to focus on in my speech. We came to a conclusion, and were able to write down at least the start of the speech. Lance agreed with me that I had to find my own voice before I could continue with the speech. He could fine tune it later, but we didn’t really have a later to rely on. The speech had to be done before the end of school on Friday, it was Wednesday now. 

 

Lance got up to stretch his legs, roaming around the music room. The look on his face when his hand touched a guitar told me he was thinking about memories of him and his abuela singing songs together. He told me once that she taught him how to play the guitar.

 

“Play me something?” I suddenly asked, curiosity heating my chest. 

 

Lance smiled warmly at my question, grabbing the acoustic guitar in his arms. He grazed the strings with his fingers to see if it were in tune. After a short moment, the strings were finely tuned and he started playing a melody. It wasn’t one I recognized. 

 

While he played, he had his eyes closed. I never thought I would miss the sight of an ocean at that moment, but the loss was enormous. My ears took in the sweet, melancholic melody and my mouth opened up in sync with the tune, singing gently, _ “When the night is cold and you feel like no one knows, What it's like to be the only one buried in this hole…” _

 

Lance stopped playing, opening his eyes, an ocean splashing, narrowing them to me, “Where did you learn those lyrics?” He asked urgently, like someone had stolen his precious car.

 

“Uhh…I…” I didn’t want to tell him that I snooped in his notebook a while back. We disliked each other enough. Also, I didn’t want him to overreact or be overdramatic like he usually did. It was just that, the music he played fit so perfectly to the lyrics he wrote. The song he played had to be one he came up with. I really wanted to sing the lyrics, they were so good. 

 

I stood up, making my way over to Lance holding the acoustic guitar still wearing a shocked stare. A table with switches stood between us when I said, “Keep on playing, Lance.” I prompted, nodding my head to the guitar. 

 

He made a quizzical look at me, not showing if he were mad that I refused to answer his question. Instead, he continued from where he left off. 

 

I opened my mouth to try and sing a difficult part, hoping Lance would like it. My eyes were closed when I sang loudly now,  _ “You can make it to the sunrise (whoa)” _

 

He stopped playing again, only to blink at me. “Shit, Kogane. You can sing like that?” 

 

I didn’t have any time to answer him until he thrummed the guitar again joining in with me,  _ “You can make it to the sunrise (whoa).” _

 

As we sang, I stared at Lance’s smile, thinking how it was one I hadn’t seen on him before. One that showed a happiness that had waited for a long time to appear on his face. He kept on playing, continuing the lyrics to his own song while I tried to come even closer to him. My hand suddenly grazed the table that had a bunch of switches on it, when I made my way over to Lance playing his guitar. On my short path walking to reach Lance, my hand sliding over the table, thinking about touching Lance’s lips to my fingertips; my own fingertip without knowing, switched a button, and then all hell broke loose. 

 

All of the lights on the ceiling began to flash and flicker blindingly. I tried to find the button or switch I turned on, but the more buttons I pressed or switched, the more lights came on and flashed in a blinding haywire. My gaze went immediately to Lance for help, but he was on the floor, shaking. 

 

“Lance!” I screamed his name at first, but lowered my voice to a stop when I recognized what was happening to him, and knew I had to let him finish. 

 

Desperately, I found the cord that belonged to the table and pulled it out of the socket, resulting in all the flashing lights thankfully stopping. I let out a long relieved breath, but forgot how to breathe again when I stared at Lance lying on the floor, spasming. 

 

It was a horrible sight, but these episodes happened. Adam had them once in a while. Foam was coming out of his mouth, his eyes rolled back inside his head, and his body was either shaking or jerking from time to time. All I could do was make sure he was able to breathe, then wait.

 

When his body finally stopped shaking, he lied on his stomach, breathing soundly. I took the chance to get on my knees and pull his head in my lap. The lights in the room dimmed down to an okay lighting so that he couldn't react again. My hand went to his soft chestnut brown locks. As my fingers started to glide through his hair, I finally heard a low groan from the tan boy lying in my lap. 

 

“What happened?” Lance asked groggily, a hand finding his mouth to dry away any of the foam or dribble that spilled out of his mouth. 

 

I was in too much shock at the time, all I could do was look at him and pray he’d be okay. Whenever Adam had an episode, Shiro would be nearby to calm me and take care of him. But now, with just the two of us in the music room, I couldn’t leave him or call Adam for advice. I didn’t know if this was something Lance had told Adam about and I wasn’t sure if it was my place to let him know. Luckily for me, I knew how to handle these episodes from experience. 

 

“You had an episode, the flashing lights.” I pointed to the ceiling, my other hand still massaging his head. 

 

He was still in my lap, probably exhausted from the episode. His face slowly turned to the side to look up at the lights I was pointing to. His closed eyes and furrowed brows told me he was starting to remember what happened. Pain was present in his blue-green eyes, an ocean turning into a raging storm. 

 

His pain spread to my face, I felt awful being the one who had this happen to him. Adam always wounded up becoming extremely nauseous after an episode to the extent that he would throw up and lie in bed for the rest of the day. Lance on the other hand, all I could make out from his look was pure pain, like someone was punching him in the gut. 

 

“Hey…” I felt a hand to his cheek to soothe him, “are you okay? Does it hurt anymore, want me to carry you to the nurses office?” I asked, trying to drag him up to a sitting position. 

 

He made a groan like a little kid would make if they didn’t want to do anything. “It’s just my head. Whenever I have an episode, my brain decides to blow up and kill me.” He tried to explain his severe headaches, but it was present on his face how much pain he was facing. 

 

“Come on, I’m stronger than you think.” I stood on my feet now, wiggling my hands to him for a confirmation to pick him up. 

 

His hand shot out, waving at me. “I’m fine, Kogane. I just need a couple more minutes to calm the headache. Come back down here and play with my hair again, it helped. A lot…” He pulled at my arm to drag me down again. 

 

When I came back down to my knees, his face was centimeters from mine. He made a queasy smile tugging on his lips, his blue-green eyes finally calming the storm. “Pleeease?” He asked with a teasing voice. How could I not say no to that voice. 

 

His head found my lap again, my fingers threading gently through his soft locks of chestnut brown hair. A low pleasant hum vibrated through his body, the same hum he always made whenever we ate birthday cake ice cream. 

 

A thought came to my head. I stopped playing with Lance’s hair, his face tipping up to look at me. His look said why did you stop, a small pout forming on his lips. My heart did a double skip at the cute face, causing my attractiveness to him to skyrocket. “Lance, was this what you and Adam discussed when he called you to his office that time?” I asked him, both my hands cupping his cheeks so that I could make him look at me. 

 

His mouth quirked to the side, squinting in the dim light. “Why do you think that? It could have been about something I did, like spray painting the school or setting off bombs.” 

 

“Lance, Adam has epilepsy, too. You could have told me, I thought we trusted each other… On second thought, why didn’t you tell me!? You were lucky I knew what to do when you have an episode. What if this happened and I had no idea what to do?” I scolded him, pulling at his hair. 

 

“Ow, Kitten. That hurt…remember what just happened. You’re supposed to feel sorry for me..” He said in a baby voice. 

 

“I do feel sorry for you, but you deserved that little tug. I was worried sick. How do you feel now? I can still carry you..” I suggested, but he kept on shaking his head in my lap. 

 

“No, no, no, no, no, nooooo. Not gonna happen. It’s enough to cradle me in your arms like this, but have you carry me. Someone who is clearly much taller than you, would be social suicide.” He joked, a wide smile revealing itself in the darkness. 

 

“But why didn’t you tell anyone, Lance? This is serious.” I shifted while he got up into a sitting position. 

 

He crossed his arms, eyes shut to think about a decent answer. One that wouldn’t make me angry. I promise, I will be angry no matter what. His blue-green eyes caught my face as he was opening his mouth, understanding finding his face, “I….I hate being seen as weak, Keith. Hate it. With a fiery passion. Ever since I was little kid, I was always the weak one. Picked on for being tall, being called ugly names for being too thin, and now this, my epilepsy. If I ever had an episode or a really bad seizure, the kids at my grade-school would call me a weakling. It wasn’t my fault that I was given this diagnosis. Not my fault I can’t control it. I can be strong, but whenever I had an episode, I knew I couldn’t control it. Lying on the ground or floor shaking uncontrollably, crying, sometimes screaming. The kids found it hilarious, it was fucking awful. Some days, I felt like staying in bed all day, hating myself. Hating the epilepsy. Other days, I’d run into the first free space I found to cry out my feelings before meeting with my friends or teachers…” He went quiet, his hand finding mine, entwining our fingers for comfort. “We’re not so different, you and I, Keith. I know what you do in here when you don’t meet up for lunch. It fucking hurts that you can’t come to me and talk about it. But, yeah, I know, rule number three.” He mocked when he mentioned our rules.

 

The anger I had built up inside me deflated to defeat. Instead, I felt a wetness find my cheeks when my free hand lifted to my face. My other hand, the one in Lance’s grip, tightened. “I had no idea, Lance. Like, I had some idea that you were hurting but not like this. Not like me. Thank you, for telling me. For trusting me with this.” I said as I felt my thumb move on its own rubbing Lance’s hand. 

 

There was a sudden, but nice quiet between us in the music room, almost like we were the only two people in the universe. Sitting there, holding hands, existing. Looking at Lance sitting next to me with a faint smile, felt like a light was finally being turned on inside me. The thought was a funny thing, but it was clear to me now that I really did feel some sort of feelings towards Lance, but whether to act upon them became a whole other issue. 

 

With the both of us here, admitting to something so personal, I felt like I had to do something. “Lance…” I started, reaching for his attention. His gaze found mine, feeling like I was being hit by a tidal wave. His eyes caught me way off guard, feeling a burning heat finding my cheeks. I persevered, “uuuhhh, wow…What I want to say is that…I…I think I’m…” As I tried very hard to form the words I wanted say, the whole school boomed in a loud screeching alarm. “Are you fucking kidding me, a fire alarm. Now!?” I shouted over the alarm. 

 

Our hands untangled as we tried to get on our feet. “Are you okay? Can you stand, move? The offer still stands for me to carry you out like a hero.” I joked loudly, trying to get the words to him by leaning close to his face. His cheeks bloomed a pinky color when we both noticed how close I was. He smiled then, grabbing my arm to lead me out of the school. 

 

We found Pidge and Hunk outside the school, accompanied by 800 more students roaming the parking lot, waiting for further instructions. Whispers of a fire drill made their ways around the students. Others said that they saw someone pull on a fire alarm on purpose, that was when I heard Lance’s name. Just then, it hit me, that Lance was still a delinquent and could have been the one to pull the fire alarm for the fun of it. But, he wasn’t, he was with me, holding my hand, telling me a personal thing about himself. 

 

“Hey, what did you guys have?” Pidge tried to make conversation looking around the sea of students, her hands warming themselves in her favorite green hoodie. 

 

Hunk was holding his stomach while wearing his usual hungry face. “Man, fire-drills make me hungry.” He commented, looking around the school to see if any students were holding a candy bar. Lucky for him, Emily, a classmate of his always had something on her person. Hunk’s face lit up when she had a candy bar ready for him when he made his way over to her. 

 

“Does he ever stop thinking about food?” Lance asked rhetorically, giving me a quick wink. 

 

The burning sensation I felt before we left the music room was still everlastingly present on my cheeks, threatening to show off a bright red color. I had to quickly look away. Stupid. I was so stupid, why didn’t I just tell him that I liked him. Could the fire alarm be a sign? Maybe I should just wait until after the election. If I win, I tell him, see how he reacts, he’ll be in a good mood, I’ll be in a good mood if he rejects me. If I lose, I’ll keep it to myself, hoping the feelings disappear within time. We only have this last year together anyways, not like I was hoping for anything more between us anyways. At least, I can at least tell him I see him as a friend. After the election, I thought. After the election. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the lyrics are from sunrise by our last night, I'm obsessed with them atm


	23. Butterflies

Everyone in home room was quiet, working with their assignments when we heard the familiar crinkle of the speaker. Lance turned around from his seat in front of me to take in the voice from the speaker, his blue-green eyes lighting up from the sunlight in the window catching his golden face. 

 

I had to look down at my papers to hide any indication of red cheeks, forcing my pen to glide into swirls of doodles to ignore the tan boy in front of me. I hated that I felt attracted to that dingus and couldn’t do anything about it. Not until after the election at least. 

 

A voice sounded muffled from the speaker, “Greeting students of GP, it’s your captain speaking….” More muffled sounds came from the speaker. I felt a very loud groan coming on when I recognized it wasn’t Adam’s voice that greeted us. 

 

“Takashi, hand over the mic….” Adam sounded in the background, grabbing at the microphone, “Sorry about my husband, always the charmer.” He cleared his throat of embarrassment, Shiro snickering in the background, “Just a reminder to every student at GP that after last period we all meet in the assembly hall to hear the speeches of our elected candidates, Keith Kogane and Lotor von Gal. Showing up is mandatory…” The microphone crinkled again, you could hear Shiro pushing Adam away when he said loudly in the mic,”Good luck, Keith!” 

 

“Takashi!” Adam yelled in the background, the mic finally going dull with a new crinkle. 

 

The heat I tried to hide when Lance turned around before the announcement had made a full flush of red on my cheeks when every single student in my class, including Miss Allura all had smug looks directed at me. Parents, why did they have to be so embarrassing? Not only that, why did Adam and Shiro have to be  _ my _ parents? 

 

Lance had his signature smug look when I caught his stare, my hand started shoving his shoulder in a light irritation. Butterflies were swarming in my gut, and not because Lance had borrowed my favorite shirt today and looking amazing in it, but because today after school, I was going to give my speech. It was going to be hell.  

 

“You’re nervous. I can tell.” Lance said, fishing out his Airpods, pushing one into my ear. 

 

I opened my mouth to say something, but he held a gold-ringed, tan finger up for me to stay quiet, looking behind him to see if Miss Allura would catch him listening to music in class. We still had ten minutes left before the bell rang, then I would only have less than an hour to give my speech. The butterflies in my stomach were eating my insides now, I felt like finding the nearest hole and living in it. 

 

Lance pushed on a song from his phone, giving me a warm smile before a blue-green eye winked at me making my heart skip three beats. How the hell does this delinquent do it? He’s knew how to be a smooth talker even when his ambiguous mouth stayed shut. 

 

The music started and I recognized the melody as the cords he played when we were in the music room a couple days ago, the day he had his awful episode. Him having epilepsy didn’t change my view on him, but I did become more wary around him, praying to every living deity to not let him have another episode in a long, long time. 

 

As the song kept on playing, the lyrics from his notebook I took pictures of from what felt like ages ago popped into my mind with his voice singing them. It was beautiful, the song. I could hear it was Lance’s voice singing, my face making an impressed grimace when Lance was able to hit the high notes and guttural screams. Who knew, he liked metalcore music. 

 

I could feel the butterflies flapping in my stomach turn into a dull, soothing flutter. It felt nice, becoming a warm familiar feeling I always felt whenever I was happy, calm, content. Lance’s face shifted to a mirrored look of calmness, his eyes finding mine, green specks dancing in harmony with his song. 

 

“That’s better. You look calmer.” Lance said, pulling the pod out of my ear, his warm finger tingling my neck. 

 

“I love the song, Lance. Can you send it to me so that I can listen to it again?” I asked him, not looking him in the eyes, embarrassment finding my face all anew. 

 

Now that I knew I was attracted to him, every little thing he did made my face feel like it was burning all the time. It was annoying as hell, and the guys could see it as clear as day so I always had to find an excuse to not hang with them or to avoid Lance sometimes, but it was no use, he was stuck to me like silly putty. 

 

My phone vibrated letting me know that Lance sent me his song, something I wanted to talk more about with him once the election was over. He was an amazing songwriter, and now he was an amazing singer, too. This was something I had to tell him, he deserved to know how strong he was, his sad words finding my mind from a couple days ago. 

 

To me, Lance had never been weak. He was always the strongest in our group, our leader: the smooth talking, stupid, dingus who never cared about what people thought about him. But when he had his seizure that day in the music room, his whole demeanor had changed. Like he had gone back in time, to the time he felt weak in grade school. 

 

Over the course of the last two days while we used our tutor time to write my speech and practice giving it, he had been calmer, quieter than usual. It was like someone had held something dear to him hostage and he couldn’t be himself until he was able to get it back. It pained me to see his usual happy, dorky face become so...glum. 

 

Today though, during class he was his usual chippery self. Probably to not worry me before my big speech. I wasn’t stupid though, he knew I could read him like an open book after being stuck together the last almost two months. 

 

My hand fell from my chin when we heard the loud clanging of the last bell. I made a low groan, looking at the cue cards with my speech written on it, resting soundly on my desk. A smile found my face when I took in the purple markings of Lance’s stupid comments, all of them either words of encouragement, or lyrics from songs he wrote while being bored from my tutoring him. I decided to keep the same cue cards with his writing on it as a calming effect while I give my speech. On their own, my teeth began to chatter letting me know how nervous I was becoming the closer we got to giving my speech. 

 

“Alright class, make way to the assembly hall. Keith, Lance I want you two to find the backstage of the assembly hall. Principal West will be waiting for you there.” Miss Allura had a weak smile on here dark face, almost like she still didn’t know who she wished to win the election. 

 

When Lance and I gathered our things and made our way out of the classroom, Miss Allura rested a slender, perfectly manicured hand on my shoulder, saying, “Good luck, Keith.” It was a low whisper like she wanted to mean it, but something was definitely holding her back, a light constriction in her throat. Odd. 

 

Lance smiled brightly at her, slinging a heavy arm around my shoulder, “No worries, Lur. I’ve been giving Keith speech tips all week. He’s gonna knock em dead, or else he’ll have me to deal with.” He winked, a look of terror finding his face when Miss Allura shot him a glare at the use of the nickname she despised. 

 

“Get going, you two. It’ll all be over soon.” She reassured me, reading my worried look. 

 

“Oh man, Miss Allura, Keith. She definitely has the hots for me. Did you see that sexy glare she gave me?  _ Whooo mami, _ I felt them chills run down my spine!” Lance went on while we walked to the assembly hall. 

 

I chose to ignore his usual bragging of how hot our history teacher was. Not that I felt jealous or anything. There was no use of feeling jealousy when you weren’t into the person talking a storm about said history teacher. It was all just pure attraction, I kept on reminding myself whenever my thoughts delved into that forbidden territory of my brain. I hated it, but the thoughts of Lance’s goofy smile and amazing singing voice always managed to warm my body, helping to steady my rapidly beating heart. It was such a pain in the ass.

 

We stood outside the door to the backstage of the assembly hall, but before one of us could open it a hard grip on my shoulder turned me around, a frightening look of terror emerging on to my face. Acxa, Lotor’s second in command. There was no word to explain Acxa, all I could say was that if you merged the words _ flawless _ and _ intimidating _ , you would find Lotor’s second in the search bar. Her piercing blue eyes pinned me from gripping the door handle. 

 

Behind her stood the striking, and easy to see rainbow-haired Ezor. Lance always said if he had to be with any of the members of the Kova group, it would have to be Ezor because she looked less likely to bite his head off. He was right though, her fingers were waving at me and Lance while Acxa was staring us down with strong, feminine arms crossed in front of us. 

 

“Kogane.” Her voice all dark and surprisingly calming said, a hand stuck out to me. 

 

My gaze went down to her perfect, pale hand. It was full of rings, just like Lance. One of the rings look like a mood ring, a color of blue shining brightly in the light. She shot her outstretched hand up and down a few times for me to take the hint, a look of annoyance finding her perfectly symmetrical features. 

 

I grabbed her hand, feeling confused, “I don’t get it.” I said hoarsely, remembering that I was supposed to give my speech in t-minus thirty minutes. 

 

“You put up a good fight. Just wanted to let you know the Kova group accepts you as a worthy opponent against the boss. He might think he’s too good for this, so I stepped in to give our regards and good luck before giving your speech.” Her hard look softened, “What I’m trying to say is, don’t take it too bad if you lose. We’re not going to bite you in the ass for going against us. We’re just really good at what we do, and we acknowledged what Team Voltron did to us to try and win. Maybe when all of this is over, we can...hang?” Her voice had a light tone to it indicating that everything she said was all true. 

 

Lance pulled me behind him before I could even open my mouth, “Now you listen here…” He eyed her figure up and down, a look of terror mirroring my own expression. I knew Lance was terrified of Acxa but he persisted with what he wanted to tell her, “Missy….voting hasn't started yet. You wait till Keith gives his awesome speech. Lotor’s gonna have to run home to mama or papa and ask for a nice haircut to pack away all that fucking dirt hidden inside those natural bleach locks. We got this.” Lance re-slung his arm over my shoulder, pulling me tightly into his side, warmth blooming inside of me. 

 

At that, Acxa only smirked, waving a single finger at Ezor to follow her into the assembly hall. Both Lance and I had different expressions, mine a look of apology and Lance trying to be intimidating, but definitely not able to sport it. Ezor winked a rainbow lensed eye at us before following Acxa into the hall. “See you boys on the other side.” She made a kissy face at Lance, his whole body going slack, a look of pure lust finding him. 

 

I jabbed his side with my elbow, keeping the door open, “Come on, let’s try and win this election.” 

 

We found Adam and Lotor facing each other with challenging looks behind the stage, a large red curtain hiding the school on the other side. It was not a pretty sight. Adam looked like he was hoping an assassin would pop up out of nowhere to slice the man-boy’s perfect long hair to shreds. Adam hated Lotor with a passion, he sometimes wished Shiro would find something on his database at work so that he could suspend him to avoid looking at his perfect face. I always wounded up ignoring his tangents on Lotor, they were the same every time for the last three years and two months. He’d have to suck it up, act like a grown man once in a while, but some things never change, I thought looking at Lance talking to Adam like they were old pals. 

 

Lotor smirked an evil grin my way, turning away not giving me an ounce of his time. All he ever cared about was himself or being president. I didn’t even know what he wanted to do after high school. Who was he going to be once his status of student body president was finally demoted? Who was he going to be in college, was he even going to college? 

 

Then it hit me, I had no idea who I was running against. All Lotor had ever been to me was a bully, and a terrifying president. Hopefully, that would all change over the weekend on Monday when the votes would be in and we’d know the results. 

 

Still, he did do a damn good job as being president. I was flabbergasted at times to think about why we were even running against him, but every school needed something to entertain them. Winning wasn’t that important to me, but it was important to Lance, so I would do my damn well best to make him happy. 

 

I felt a hand rubbing my back, wondering if it were Lance. I tipped my head up finding one of my dads. “Hey, how you feeling? You ready?” Adam asked, smiling at Lance who was giving me a soft smile, both his tan hands giving me a thumbs up. 

 

My mind went back to the cue cards with his little notes on them calming my heartbeat. Being nervous was all part of the process. It was to be expected. If I weren’t nervous to give a big speech, I might as well be a robot like Lotor. 

 

I smiled at Adam, then at Lance feeling courage finding me when I say, “Let’s get this party started.” 


	24. Nobody

In that moment while watching from backstage, looking at Lotor dominate the podium with his amazing speech, I felt like an insect. I wanted to take back what I told Adam and Lance. I wanted my courage to come back to me and make me invincible before it was my turn to take on the stage and in front of approximately a thousand students. 

 

I felt a hurl coming on in my throat. My hands found my mouth, and instantly, Lance was by my side with both hands on my shoulders. “Hey, man. You can still back out. I can give the speech for you. I think the school would understand if you pretend you were K.O. for five minutes.” He tried to joke, but his words couldn't reach my ears. All I could hear was the beating of my heart going a million miles per second. 

 

My lungs sucked in the deepest breath I could take, feeling the rise of Lance’s hands on my shoulders as I breathed in. Warm air left my lungs for a long time before I turned around to show him I was okay, “Thanks, Lance. I know how much you hate standing in front of a crowd so I’m not going to torture you like that. This has to be all me….besides you wrote my speech with me, it’s going to be killer…” I winked at him, a look of surprise finding both our faces when we heard a loud applause from the assembly hall, and Lotor’s slick voice thanking his fans. 

 

Lotor was wearing a look of approval when he proceeded to move to the backstage, meeting Lance and me. He was wearing a black suit, looking like he was part of the mafia, he opened his mouth, finally having something to say to me, “Alright, Kogane. I’ve warmed them up for you, but I don’t think any of them will pay much attention. My speech really made a number on them. Who could forget a face like mine.” He winked a dark blue sinister eye, his white smile blinding us making us wish we’d rather stare at the sun. 

 

Lance was ready to make a number of him, but I grabbed his lifted fist in time to stop him, shaking my head slightly before walking past our competitor. “The beginning of a movie is always the most boring part, Loturd. Here comes the point of no return.” I said as I passed him, my voice trying to mock his own so that he knew how it felt to be talked at by him. Not fun, that’s what. 

 

Lights were blinding my sight when I made it to the podium, taking in the shadowed contours of every student and faculty member of Garrison Prep. My sight regained its focus and I could make out Shiro and Ruby sitting in the front row, waving at me. Ruby had a wide toothy smile on her face when she caught my stare, her little hands going crazy. Shiro held a thumbs up to me, pulling Ruby close to him to point at me probably telling her how proud she should be of her big brother. 

 

Before I could open with my speech, I chanced a quick glance behind me to see if Lance was watching. I caught the wave of an ocean when Lance was leaned against a wall from backstage, his ankles and arms crossed and his signature smile directed at me. All the nerves that were building up inside of me causing a ruckus in my veins and heart had calmed like a still river. I was ready.  

 

I cleared my throat, taking in the whole school with a note of accomplishment. I was here, all because of Lance. _ I’ll kill him later _ , I thought. I had a speech to give. My mouth opened,

 

**“** A lot of you might not have known who I was before I was nominated to run against Lotor. Others might already know me as the principal's son, or as the teacher’s pet, or golden boy or my friend Lance’s favorite; _ nobody _ . To some of you, the people who already know who I am; I am Keith Kogane. And after this speech, to all you, the whole school, I will not be nobody anymore. To you, I will be; Keith Kogane; a somebody, the person I choose to be; myself.”

 

I stopped to breathe, looking quickly back to Lance to see if he was listening to me behind the podium. He caught my quick stare, a bright smile flashing my way, both his thumbs up at me. My heart-rate calmed again. I inhaled a new breath, pretending I was smelling the scent of woodsmoke and spearmint, 

 

“I may not be as calculated as my friend Pidge, or as creative as my friend Hunk, I most definitely am not as articulated as Lance McClain. But I am dedicated, I am persistent, I am my father Shiro’s son. I am my other father, Adam’s son. I am someone who will try to follow up on his promises. Someone who will not give up, but will allow it to happen if necessary because we are all only human. I’m not a machine like Lotor, our current president. I want to prove to my fellow students, teachers, friends and family that even humans can become someone even if there are speed bumps on the road of life. Anyone is allowed to give up, to reach rock bottom because from the bottom the only way from there is up.”

 

Another long breath before I felt like continuing. My gaze took a panoramic turn to see if the students were listening, I couldn't see anything so I went on,  

 

“So, yeah, I might make bad decisions from time to time. I might not achieve all of my promises, but, I want to be a president that is seen as a human, as someone who shouldn’t have to feel the pressure of those around him. Instead, I want to be a president who listens to those who are in heavy need. Listen to those who are afraid to speak up, to those who feel the need for help at school but are too closed up in their minds to reach out to someone. I want to be that someone.”

 

I shifted to a new cue card, finding purple handwriting at the corner. Lance had drawn a little heart, and the words Lancey-Lance on it. _Such a self-absorbed douche_ , I thought, feeling my cheeks heat not from the light, but from his stupid little comments on the cards. I needed to go on, there wasn’t much left of my speech and I think I was doing pretty well,  

 

“What I’m trying to say with this speech, is that I have no idea what being a student body president means. I know it means to clean up the school, to please the students. But for me, I want it to be so much more than that. I don’t want students to cower when they meet me, I want them to know my name, say hi to me, call me Keith instead of  _ pet _ or  _ nobody _ . I want them to be able to come to me and just talk. Being president at GP should be something anyone can achieve. I want to be the first one to help you; you out there sitting in this hall right now thinking that you’re not good enough to become student body president, but rather think that it can be achievable. I want to be that first step to the future of GP. 

 

I am Keith Kogane. Son, brother, friend, student and most importantly, my own person. I hope you vote for me, for a new future at GP. Thank you for listening.” 

 

It was quiet at first, my ears felt like they were stuffed with cotton. But within a few seconds of only hearing my heartbeat in my head, a loud applause sounded from the large hall. Everyone stood up from their chairs applauding me.

 

Stunned. I was stunned. They liked my speech. There wasn’t much to do other than take in their applause and find my father behind the stage. Adam clapped my shoulder, leaning in to me, “I’m proud of you, Keith. If you don’t win, you’re still somebody to me.” He said in my ear. I felt tears threatening to rise, but blinked them away as I found Lance standing with Pidge and Hunk behind the curtain.  

 

“Sick. That was so sick, Keith! You didn’t even need my help.” Lance leaned in, his hand squeezing mine for two seconds before letting go. I wanted him to grab my hand again, I still felt like hurling even if the worst part was over. 

 

“When did you guys come? Weren’t you in the hall?” I asked Pidge and Hunk who were beaming at me. 

 

“Adam found them in the assembly hall, said they could hang out back with me. They’re your friends, Keith so we needed them here to back you up. But, looks like you didn’t need any help.” Lance winked at me, his brig brown hand slapping my back. 

 

It felt amazing to finally be done with the hard part, but now we had to wait over the weekend before any students could vote. I heard Adam’s voice through the microphone on the podium, “That’s a wrap for our elected students to give their speech. Let their words sink into you over the weekend. Voting will be on Monday, your homeroom teachers will give you the time-slot to make way to the voting booths. Have a nice weekend, everyone!” Adam dismissed the school. 

 

We heard the whole school filing out of the hall, sprinting almost to get home and away from the school. It was hilarious to listen to. School’s not a prison, I thought but was slapped out of my thoughts when Lance pulled me in to ask what we were doing this weekend. 

 

“Movie night?” I asked, directing my gaze at Pidge since we always wounded up at her place to watch movies. 

 

Pidge made an apologetic look, “Sorry, guys. My parents are taking me to this new science museum up state. Hunk is tagging along, too.”  She pointed to Hunk who was busy opening a candy bar. 

 

Hunk caught my incredulous look, pointing the chocolate bar towards me asking if I wanted any. I grabbed the bar out of his hand chomping into it, the chocolate goodness creating a hum of pleasure vibrate from my throat. The bar disappeared in seconds once I was given a bite. Hunk licked his fingers clean while Lance was thinking about weekend plans. 

 

“Then I guess that leaves the two of us, Mullet. You know what that means?” He jabbed an elbow at my side, hitting my ribs causing me to giggle. He knew exactly where my funny bone was, this would not end well if he continued jabbing me. 

 

My eyes caught Pidge’s smug look when I opened my eyes after giggling too much from Lance’s unconscious tickling. Her expression told me she was thinking about her question from our campaign days, and she could just stuff that question far into the depths of the ocean. It wasn’t true, or not as much as she thought it was. 

 

Lance and I hung out a lot alone, especially at my house. This weekend wasn’t any different, she was just there to receive the memo that Lance was going to be at my place watching a movie instead of being at her place. Nothing’s going to happen, nothing at all. I would make sure of it. Besides, it was too obvious that Lance was too hung up on Miss Allura or Ezor to even remotely think of me in that way. He needed to know we were friends first. 

 

“You guys know you can leave, school’s been over for like ten minutes.” Adam came by after locking up the assembly hall and turning off all the lights. 

 

That was when I noticed we were all still standing backstage, not moving a muscle to get the hell out of here. We needed to enjoy the weekend to the fullest before panic found us again on Monday. Only three more days, and this carousel would finally be over, with me either becoming the school’s new president or hopefully, seen differently in my peers' eyes. Time would tell, I guess. But for now, Lance and I had a movie to watch.  


	25. Friends

Lance had to go home after school on Friday, but today he was back at my house in his rightful spot on the couch. Ruby and Kosmo were taking up all of his space, giving him all the attention he always got whenever he was over. 

 

“Ruby you ready to bug Keith again?” Lance asked happily, petting Kosmo who was resting on Lance’s lap. 

 

Ruby jumped up and down wearing her adorable pink Dora the Explorer t-shirt with matching purple pants. Adam picked it out specifically for her because he loved the show always being the one to point out everything before Ruby even had a chance at guessing. He was such a bad parent, I mocked in my head shaking it in disbelievement. Adam and Shiro were amazing parents, but whenever it came to contests they became predators. Never, ever play Trivial Pursuit with them, all hell would break loose as soon as you had to choose a color. 

 

Ruby found the movie we were going to watch on Netflix, switching it on with the volume up on high ready to sing to all of the annoying songs. Shiro and Adam were out this Sunday since Lance and I agreed to babysit Ruby. They needed a day out to be husbands once in a while and I agreed with that. Also, Ruby loved being around Lance and I got to see both their smiles in the same room which warmed my heart tenfold so it was a win-win situation basically. 

 

The movie played and Ruby was glued to the screen giving me and Lance some space to talk if we wanted to. Lance had seen the movie a billion times because Ruby always put it on whenever he came over, she loved hearing him sing to the songs. Guess I wasn’t the only one who thought he had an amazing voice that should be heard by more people. 

 

The couch grew quiet, with only the noise from the movie and Ruby singing along to the songs playing. She looked back with a happy smile waiting for Lance to join in. As if on cue, he opened his mouth to sing _ Let it go  _ with everything he got, standing up to imitate Queen Elsa dancing around in the movie. It was a sight to see, but it was one I had seen many times before. This time though, I decided to join in on the dancing hoping Ruby thought it would be a blast to see her big brother dance to her favorite song. 

 

Lance made a shocked expression, but it softened when he noticed how much Ruby was enjoying the sight of us playing around, dancing and singing to the disney song. While I twirled around pretending I was queen Elsa, Lance grabbed my hand pulling me close to him then twirled me out of his grasp, still singing, hitting a high note. His hand stretched out again asking for me to take it. I took it, catching his stare, green specks flying with delight at the warm touch of my hand grabbing his. 

 

We kept on dancing till the song finally ended, making me feel a bit winded when I fell on to the couch. “Yay, Lance! Yay, Keith! Again, again!” Ruby screamed darting to the remote to rewind the song. I yanked it away from her right on time, no way was I going to listen to that song for what would be the 9 billionth time within the time span of a week. Let a guy catch a break. 

 

When the end credits found the screen, Ruby was fast asleep on the recliner with Kosmo curled up into her sleeping as heavily as her. Seriously, even though she was five, she could snore louder than Adam and Shiro combined. 

 

I put on Tangled in the background, turning the volume down low so that Lance and I could finally chat. “Oooooh, I love this movie, Keith.” Lance pointed at the TV, wearing a dreamy face when Rapunzel and Flynn Rider appeared on the screen. “She’s like my favorite disney princess, and Flynn is sooooo dreamy.” Lance held both his hands up to his face at the mention of the hunky delinquent. 

 

It was funny because I really liked Flynn Rider, too. Coincidence? “Yeah, I know you love  _ Tangled _ , you never shut up about it. Thought I’d put it on now that the monster is asleep, or else  _ Frozen _ would be on again in seconds.” I said, looking at Ruby hoping she’d sleep for awhile, I did not want to hear Let it go again. 

 

Without a second thought, Lance was close to me on the couch. I could feel his hip close to mine, warmth spreading from his warm body. He was wearing a plain white t-shirt and black jeans. His hair was all tousled getting longer at the back, his bangs falling in front of his blue-green eyes if he didn’t push them away. He looked good, I thought wanting to close the gap between our hips. 

 

He leaned in to my shoulder, resting his head on my shoulder now, lifting his legs on the far end of the couch to watch the movie. We enjoyed the silence between us, the movie playing with a low volume, and Ruby in front of us resting safe and sound. A perfect Sunday. 

 

“Hey, Keith.” Lance tried to get my attention as I was zoning out, tiredness finding me. 

 

I hummed at his attention. “Yeah…?” I asked, resting my head on top of his, watching Rapunzel and Flynn in the boat singing to each other. 

 

“I’ve been thinking about your speech.” Lance started, shifting to sit up and look at me. His legs were crossed, hands on his knees, blue-green eyes drowning me with curiosity. 

 

“Okay, what about it?” I asked, tilting my head to the side not sure what he was on about. Did he not like my speech? Was I too forward with it, did I not give enough  _ umph _ when I gave it? Will he scold me because I changed it up a bit? Now I was dreading what he was going to say, trying to avoid his blue gaze pinning me.  

 

“I can’t stop thinking about it, Keith. But, you called me your friend in your speech. Is that true? Are we friends now? Since...well...I really want to be your friend.” said Lance, while tapping his index fingers together, a small blush of pink finding his cheeks. When he tipped his head up, his blue-green eyes found me creating a flash of heat in my gut, “Pleeeease?” He smiled dorkily, jabbing an index finger in my rib, my funny bone. 

 

I giggled when his finger reached my rib. Of course, it hadn’t occurred to me that I did mention Lance as my friend in my speech. I had seen him as my friend for a while, but I guess the word hadn’t exactly been said out loud to confirm our friendship. But, were words needed for things like this? I thought Lance knew we were friends. 

 

“Lance…” I started, catching a wave with my dark eyes. He had a worried look on him, one that said he was terrified I was going to send him home and never see me again, such a dork, I thought, then said, “We’ve been friends for awhile now. But if you need to hear it.” I made an exasperated noise before I said, “From here on out, I officially dub our tutor-delinquent relationship to friendship. There, happy now?” I smiled taking in his wide toothy grin turning my insides into a melted puddle. 

 

“Ecstatic, Mullet.” He mocked, moving his brown fingers close to my ribs again threatening to jab me. I shot a gloved hand in his face to keep him away from killing me with giggles. When I wasn’t paying attention, staring at the TV, I felt a heavy body fall on top of me. Lance made an  _ oof  _ sound lifting both his hands, planting them next to my face, blue eyes pinning me with shock. 

 

“Keith…” Lance swallowed, noticing how close his face came to my own when he fell on me. 

 

I mirrored his look, feeling like someone had poured hot tea all over my face. In that moment, we both heard the door open. Lance almost jumped off of me, darting as far away from me as possible, pretending to watch the movie when Adam and Shiro came into the living room.

 

“Hey, you two. I see babysitting went well. She’s out like a light.” Adam came in carrying two bags, smiling warmly at Ruby still sleeping on the recliner, then directing his gaze to the TV, “ooooh,  _ Tangled _ ! Lance that one’s your favorite, right? I remember Keith mentioned it some time ago.” Adam then said embarrassing me to the max, his stupid dad grin making its way to me. 

 

My arms were crossed giving him a  _ don’t you dare _ look. Both him and Shiro embarrassed me enough, they could tone it down a bit now, I thought. Lance had been here so much lately, that the teasing was getting old. Apparently, not for them because now Shiro came in and wanted a go at it, too. 

 

“Eyy,  _ Tangled _ ! Keith, let me bet you put it on for Lance, how romantic.” He teased, picking Ruby up from the recliner, a soft little moan escaping her throat. She was such a heavy sleeper. 

 

My eyes glanced at the clock. It had gotten pretty late, and we had school tomorrow. But, I wanted Lance to stay over a bit more, “I think we have some homework to--” I started, but Adam held up a perfectly tanned hand in my direction. Guess I wasn’t getting out of this one. 

 

“Nope, we bought your favorite pasta for tonight, Keith. You and Lance are having dinner with us, no homework tonight.” Adam commanded, handing me the bag with the ingredients for my favorite pasta dish. 

 

He knew exactly how to lure me in, that rat bastard. Every time Lance was over, I tried to get us out of eating dinner with Adam and Shiro. Mostly because the two of them became buddy cops, interrogating us until our bones were dried up. But, luring me in to eat my favorite pasta. That’s low, even for him. They wanted to know something, and I was scared about what it could be. 

 

“Come on, let’s make dinner.” I nodded at Lance to follow me into the kitchen before Adam or Shiro decided to steal him from me and ask him personal questions that was none of their beeswax. 

 

In the kitchen, I started finding all of the pots and pans we needed to make Pasta Carbonara, my ultimate favorite pasta dish. It was as simple as heating up mac and cheese, but it was just so freaking good and I couldn’t wait to have Lance taste it. 

 

“Here, pour water into this and put it on a boil. Then you can hack the bacon.” I started giving Lance orders, handing him a pot. 

 

He took it with no argument, getting straight to work. While he turned the water on, I felt a splash on my face, and a small giggle escape his mouth. How dare he, I thought grabbing at his side with my fingers, his funny spot. A loud laugh left his mouth when I kept on tickling him, his laugh ending every single war on the planet. 

 

“Okay, less dilly dallying and more cooking. I’m starving.” I said, making the sauce.

 

When dinner was ready; Adam, Shiro, Ruby, Lance and I all sat at the table. Kosmo waggled his tail on the floor hoping for a taste of my amazing cooking skills. Unfortunately, Shiro was a strict parent and never allowed us to feed him human food since he meant it wasn’t good for his bowels. TMI is all I want to say. 

 

“So…” Shiro started, glancing from me then to Lance. Here it comes, interrogation time. 

 

I groaned loudly so that he knew how frustrated I was with this, and that I knew it was coming giving him a cold stare. Shiro ignored my stare, smiling at Lance, “Lance, did you send in any college applications? Got one in mind you want to get in to?” He asked, surprising me that it didn’t have anything to do with me in love with him or something within the lines of romance.  _ Thank the gods, _ I thought.  

 

Lance didn’t hesitate to answer full of pasta goodness in his mouth, “I applied to a couple, but I’m hoping to get into the science one that Adam recommended. I have a knack in calculous and if I could find a couple courses in the field of science, it would pretty cool to try them out.” He smiled happily, taking another bite of the pasta, “Although, I might take a year off and focus on my music.” He then suddenly said, shocking me and probably losing Shiro’s respect now. So close, so, so, close. 

 

Music? He wanted to focus on his music? He never told me any of this, why did he hide this brand new information from me? “What are you talking about, Lance? You hate doing things in public, and now you want to pursue in a music career? You know you’d have to sing in public?” I tried to open his eyes, but he gave me a cold look now letting me know I was embarrassing him in front of my parents.

 

“I know that, Mullet.” He spat, literally spat since some of the carbonara landed on my cheek, “It’s just that I think I have a thing going with my recent songs. You even told me you loved them. I’ll think about the whole singing in public thing later.” He reassured me, but I wasn't reassured. If he got into the college of his choice he should accept it, then think about a music career. He wasn’t thinking straight and it irritated the hell out of me. 

 

“Keith. This is Lance’s decision to make, it’s not like you’re married. That would be a whole other case. Lance if you need any guidance or counseling, I’d recommend to talk with our counsellor at school, she’s amazing at her job.” He winked at Lance, then gave me a calm down look. 

 

His look did calm me down, it was the look that said he’d fix this. I was just thinking about what would be the best for him. He’s super smart and could land a sweet job after college, an opportunity like that is hard to pass. Is what I should tell him, I thought being a bad friend. 

 

“I’m sorry, Lance. It’s just that you’re super smart and I think that if you get accepted into that college you should say yes. You know you could land a sweet, sweet job. How about working with music on the side?” I suggested, but was shot down by a crashing tidal wave. 

Lance ate up his dish, then wiped his mouth with a white napkin, “Dinner was great. I think I need to head home, it’s getting late.” He stood up to leave, a look of disappointment shining on his face. 

 

Damn, we officially become friends and I go and screw it all up all and all on the same day.. “Lance, let me walk you out.” I asked, standing up waiting for an approval. He had both his hands in his jeans pockets, his back to me until he finally shrugged. I took that as confirmation to follow him out. 

 

We stood outside his blue Ford Fiesta. Lance was leaning against the driver seat door, a look of irritation covering his golden face, blue eyes looking down at the pavement, “Well…” He started, tipping his head up to face my apologetic stare. 

 

“I’m sorry. I was a shitty friend in there. You should be allowed to do whatever you want to do. It’s just that...College is so important.” I stated, but was interrupted when he shot a ringed finger out to my face. 

 

“ _ You  _ think college is important, Keith. For me, it’s just more school, more work. I only applied to those colleges because you wanted me to, and it made you happy. We just have to see what happens when spring comes along. It’s only October...you have a birthday coming up right? Let’s think about that and the election….” He remembered, a light-bulb flashing above his face.  _ Scheming face _ , I thought. I would recognize that look anywhere. 

 

“Yeah my birthday’s on the 21st...then there’s homecoming like a day or two after. Man, why do schools have so many events? I can’t even keep track on what’s for lunch in the cafeteria tomorrow.” I chuckled, relief finding me when Lance chuckled back our small fight hopefully in the past now. 

 

Lance planted a brown hand on my shoulder, his smile threatening my knees to buckle but his hand kept me steady, “Tomorrow’s Monday meatball madness. Disgusting shit, but can’t seem to stop eating it for some reason.” He opened the door to his car, dipping into the driver’s seat. His face found mine again, “I’ll see you tomorrow, Keith. Thanks for today, give Ruby a goodnight kiss from me. I hope I get to call you president tomorrow.” He said, a soft smile spreading on his face. 

 

“If not, we’ll go for birthday cake ice-cream.” I tapped on the roof of his car, leaning in to him almost kissing his cheek without thinking. Regaining my composure of what almost happened. I pull back quickly to say, “Uhhh...so yeah, drive safely. See you tomorrow. See ya!” My voice became super sheepish as I tried to run to my front door. 

 

Lance shot a two-fingered salute my way while he pulled out my driveway, “That was close.” I heard Adam’s voice behind me, standing in the front door opening, his glasses glinting in the moonlight while wearing a smug face.  

 

“Shut up.” I say, walking into the house. 


	26. President

Time was standing still. We were still in third period, for what felt like had been three days, and I could feel my legs shaking restlessly for the bell to ring us out to lunch. The gang and I needed to discuss statistics before voting was up. Freshman voted during first period and sophomores voted second period. Juniors and us seniors had to wait until after lunch, hence the restlessness in my legs. 

 

Pidge said she was going to calculate what she thought the outcome would be after votes are up. She also said that she would have some form of a result ready during lunch so that bell better ring on the dot. Unfortunately, there was still twenty whole minutes left before that sweet, sweet melody ringed in my ears. 

 

Miss Honerva was busy talking about something on the board when Lance had to turn around to tell me something. Couldn’t it wait until the bell rang, like she’s standing right there and can see everything. Nothing ever stopped that delinquent. 

 

“Oh lord, only four periods left and we might have a new president.” said Lance, the green specks in his eyes were flying today. The sun shined bright orange color through the windows giving us an Autumn vibe.

 

His comment didn’t unnerve me. I was prepared to take my loss as a man if I don’t win the election. But, winning against Lotor would be sweet, and very rewarding. I could picture the look on Lance’s face when they announce me as their new student council president, his lips curling into a wide, bright smile, his hands finding my shoulders jumping up and down behind me laughing at Lotor. During that thought, I felt a familiar sinking feeling in my stomach, bile threatening to rise all over again the last time the thought of becoming president intruded my mind. 

 

“No, Keith.” Said Lance in a worried tone reading my sudden stillness in an instant, “We need to find the music room. Come on.” Lance stood up from his seat, looking really good in his black and white checkered pants, white shirt and black suspenders. 

 

“Mr. McClain, class isn’t over yet. Get back in your seat!” Miss Honerva called from the board, her voice pulling up every head in the classroom towards the two of us. 

 

Staring at Lance’s expression, it was obvious to read. He wanted to help me calm my anxiety, but sometimes we couldn’t get what we wanted. Miss Honerva had a sinister look that mirrored Lotor’s to a tee, no wonder since she’s his aunt. Why was everyone related at this school? He sat down slowly in his seat, his blue-green eyes causing a ruckus of flying green specks everywhere in a storming rage.

 

“Thank you.” Miss Honvera said mockingly, continuing on the board. 

 

My heart rate was still pacing fast, but Lance’s chivalry kind of managed to calm it down a bit. Anxiety was a tricky thing, and I knew Lance could relate with his epilepsy. A smile tugged on my lips when I poked a pencil between his shoulder blades hoping he’d turn around. 

 

His golden face caught mine, thin brows furrowed at me, “Thanks….for trying. I feel better, though. Just really nervous...” I told him quietly, making sure Miss Honvera couldn’t hear us. 

 

Lance only smiled, a slight nod lifting from his head before he turned back around to continue writing something. I got curious and tried to look over my desk to see what he was writing. All I could make out from my point of view behind my desk were pencil markings of letters on a white piece of paper. Was he writing another song? 

 

The thought dissolved when the bell finally rang like music to my ears. Lance and I both got up, catching each other's gazes, a corner shooting up on Lance’s mouth when he looked at me. My heart did a little dance in my chest before I bumped a fist at his shoulder for him to follow me. We filed out of the classroom and darted for the cafeteria ready and dreading to hear Pidge’s calculations of the vote so far. 

 

“You look good today, Keith. Ready for that acceptance speech, I see.” Lance winked at me while we walked towards the cafeteria. 

 

My choice in wardrobe today was believable enough, picked out by Shiro. He had gone on a shopping spree during his date with Adam, buying me a lot of great clothes that suit my new look. He was finally accepting who I wanted to be, and I felt like we were finally getting closer.

 

Today, I went with a pair of red leather pants, tucked into Lance’s black Doc Martens, and a white t-shirt under a black flannel. My objective for today’s look was to look classy, but also cool and myself. Lance approved so that was good enough for me, also Shiro picked these clothes out which definitely made it good enough for me. 

 

“Thanks. I’m glad we’re the same shoe size, I love these boots!” I kicked a booted foot up in the air showing them off to Lance. 

 

He was wearing a grim look probably jealous because I suited his boots better than he did. “You can keep them, you look better in them than I do anyways.” His arms were crossed, his baby face making its way on his face. 

 

My cheeks decided to bloom a dusty pink color when he said I could keep them. He wasn’t any better though, his cheeks were a flame. Did he feel anything for me too, or was he just easily embarrassed?

 

“Thanks! Let’s look at it more as a trade. You still have my favorite flannel.” I reminded him, a smug look finding my face now. 

 

Lance went all sheepish at the mention of him still having my favorite shirt. I knew I could have asked for it back a long time ago, but I really liked it when he wore it. A loud snicker escaped me when we made it to the cafeteria, finding Pidge and Hunk drowned in each their own thing. 

 

Pidge was looking at numbers on her phone, her DS completely forgotten next to her. Hunk was eating, as usual, but he was also looking at numbers that Pidge had probably given him to look at. 

 

“How’s it looking?” I asked, setting my tray with Monday Meatball Madness down on the table, Lance mirroring me. 

 

Pidge was making a sour look, her glasses had fallen down to her nose not bothering to push them back up. She made an exasperated noise when she said, “It’s going to be a really tight race, my dudes.” Her glasses slid up from her nose, “From what I’ve gathered over the past two weeks, there’s going to be a difference of three or four votes, but I can’t put my tongue on who’s going to win.” Her voice sounded worried, affecting our own voices. 

 

“Soo...we just have to wait until the results, is what you’re saying.” I said, assuming what we all were thinking. 

 

She simply nodded, letting out a breath then going back to her DS. Hunk was stress-eating after learning Pidge’s answer, piling in with meatballs. Lance was also stuffing his face with meatballs while making a grimace at the disgusting taste, but he was right there had to be some kind of chemical they put into it that made us eat more of the disgusting dish. 

 

I tried my hardest to eat something, but my stomach, not surprising, wasn’t on my side today always twisting and turning each time the fork neared my mouth. After some trial and error with my lunch, I had to suffice to drinking my coke, pushing my tray towards Hunk to vacuum it. 

 

“Thanks, man.” Hunk said happily, dragging my tray close to him. 

 

Lance was looking over at me every two seconds being super annoying, “What is it, Lance? You got something to say then say it already…” I said irritated, letting the vote bug me. 

 

He crossed his arms, looking down at the bench between our hips, his blue-green eyes trying to melt the metal we were sitting on, “It’s nothing...you’re not eating and it’s stressing me out. I feel like I need to watch out for your health or else Adam and Shiro are going to bite me in the ass.” 

 

Seriously, that’s what’s making him so fidgety? I didn’t believe him one bit, he was just spitting words to lead me on to what was actually bothering him, but I couldn’t force it out of him until later. The bell rang us in to fourth period. Only three periods left until the results, please tell my stomach to stop doing tumbles already. 

 

I felt like those melting clocks in a Salvador Dali painting while staring at the clock to tick us out already. Final period with Coran was always the worst. His classes were so boring, and he was like Miss Allura always waiting until the bell rang on the dot to free us from hell. 

 

My mind wandered to when we gave our votes last period. Lance looked all smooth and cool when he slid into the voting booth, ready to check off my name, I hope. Scratch that, I knew. If he didn’t vote for me, I’d bury him alive. All of this was his fault to begin with. 

 

When it was my turn to vote, I felt a gaping lurch in my gut, my hand holding the pen hovering above the checkboxes with my and Lotor’s name printed on it. Adam was waiting outside the voting booth after I checked off my vote. He patted me on the shoulder being the only praise I needed at that moment. It would be a tough race, and If I lost, I think I would be okay with it. My only concern was a certain bronzed delinquent sitting next to me now, bobbing his leg up and down in a rapid speed of distress. 

 

The speaker crinkled, “Attention students of GP, all the votes are in and we are counting them up as we speak. When the bell rings, every student will meet in the assembly hall when we announce who will be student body president.” Adam’s voice sounded worried like he knew who was going to win, and it wasn’t me. 

 

As the bell rang, Lance waited for me to walk in step to the assembly hall. We didn’t talk at all on the way over, he only stole a couple glances at me trying to put a smile on my face without any luck. My anxiety was hitting me in the gut pretty hard for every step I took, walking closer and closer to the hall. 

 

We both stood outside the door to the backstage area. I turned to face Lance, “Ice cream no matter what of the results?” I asked, holding a pale hand out to him. 

 

“Of course, my treat.” He winked, grabbing my hand then pulling me in for a hug. 

 

It was nice, our hug. No one was in the hall to witness our close embrace. We stood there for a couple minutes taking in the scent of each other. Lance’s spearmint and woodsmoke, and my vanilla spray that he gave me one time we went to the mall. Our hug helped my anxiety a lot, giving me the courage to finally open the door. 

 

Adam rushed us both to the stage when he saw Lance and I walk through the door. Lotor was already standing by the podium, surrounded by his precious Kova group all looking intimidating and proud. Acxa flashed a wink at me when she caught my sudden stare at the Kova group and Lotor actually waving to the school. Seriously, that guy. 

 

Every single student and faculty member were sitting with anticipation or bored looks to see who will become their president for the rest of the school year. Next year they would have to have a new election as Lotor and I were both graduating this year, but still, something exciting to this degree hadn't happened in a while at GP. Lotor’s smile was hard to read as it wasn’t his usual curled lips of death, but instead one of fear of losing. Maybe I did have a shot. Adam’s face was hard to read as well, not helping with my anxiety at all. 

 

The room grew quiet, almost like someone had just died. If it weren’t for the constant hard beating of my heart in my ears, I would have sworn that I was the one who had died in that moment waiting for Adam to read up who won the election. 

 

Adam cleared his throat when he stood behind the mic on the podium, “Alright, so the time has finally come to announce our winner. It’s been a tight three weeks of campaigns, speeches and colorful and creative craftsman ships, but I think this race has been enlightening for all of us and fun to be a part of. Keith..” Adam looked at me with a bright face, “Lotor..” He then directed his gaze to Lotor trying hard to give him the same look he gave me, “It is time. Please step forward so that the whole school can have one last look at you..” He snickered thinking he was being funny. 

 

I stepped forward, feeling Lance gently punching a fist between my shoulder blades sending chills down my spine. Lotor followed suit, standing next to me with his arms crossed looking like a thirty year old business man in his dark marine suit. 

 

We were total opposites standing on that stage next to each other, but in that moment, as we stood in front of the whole school waiting for the results, we couldn’t have been more alike. I caught a slight buckle at Lotor’s knees, but only barely, it was impossible to notice unless you were standing as close as I was. My heart was falling out of my ass, and the blood in my veins was growing hotter and hotter for each second that went by without Adam reading up the results. 

 

Hard clicking noises sounded on the wooden floor coming from Miss Allura’s bright pink heels when she made her way over to Adam holding a white, folded piece of paper. The results. Now all I wanted to do was bite my fingernails until there was only the pink flesh beneath them left. Lotor held his smirk, his dark blue eyes following Miss Allura from when she handed Adam the folded paper until she walked off stage, her gaze never reaching ours the whole way down to her seat. 

 

Adam cleared his throat again, reluctant to open the folded piece of paper. Just get on with it already, my anxiety could only take so much, I thought feeling sweat beads building on my brow from the warmness of the lights shining down on us. Adam unfolded the paper containing the results, his amber eyes not giving anything away. My heart was beating like crazy now making me feel like I was waiting to see if I would become the new Miss America.  _ Waiting fucking blows,  _ I thought. But, I could finally hear Adam speaking up. 

 

“Students of GP, Faculty members. With a difference of only three votes, the title of student council president goes to….” Adam stopped for that fucking dramatic effect. Tell us already, my brain was screaming causing my blood to curdle. 

 

Lance stood behind me actually biting his black painted nails. The green specks in his irises were so clear, I could see them all the way from where I was standing. Man, he was just as nervous as I was. In the crowd, I could spot Pidge and Hunk sitting next to each other, curled up close in anticipation. Pidge had her eyes closed and Hunk was looking distressed with the no eating policy in the assembly hall. 

 

“Lotor von Gal! He will remain student body president for the rest of the school year. Congratulations, Lotor.” Adam tried to keep a happy tone, but the look on his face was obviously one of pure hatred. 

 

Shock found my face when Lotor didn’t gloat as soon as Adam said his name. Instead, he turned to face me and reach a light tanned hand with a perfect manicure my way. I grabbed it, my shocked face turning into one of pure confusion. 

 

“You dodged a bullet, Kogane. If you had won, I’d have to send one of my lesbians...uhh...one of my commanders on you. You can rest easy from now on…” Lotor’s despicable smile was back on his face now that he knew his title would remain his. He didn’t give me a second glance when he made his way to the podium to give his acceptance speech. 

 

The rest of us pulled behind the podium to listen to Lotor brag about himself and how it was an easy win. He didn’t even mention how I was a worthy opponent or any of the words that Acxa told me before the weekend.  _ He can suck it,  _ I thought. Good riddance. Hopefully when he starts college he’ll realize how big of a douchebag he was. 

 

Applause sounded loudly in the hall, a bunch of students who were obviously on Lotor’s side whooped and whistled his way as he made his way off the stage to go celebrate his win. The Kova group followed after him except for Acxa and Ezor who were still on the stage standing close to me and Lance. 

 

They were both wearing their uniforms of short plaid skirts and white shirts. Acxa had painted her lips a bright crystal blue, her teeth blinding me when she smiled at me. I could feel the jealous heat rise from Lance behind me when Ezor also smiled brightly at me, her rainbow eyes unnerving me. 

 

Acxa slapped a hand on my shoulder, pulling me close to her, “It was a good race, Kogane. Be glad you didn’t win, Lotor had something planned for his defeat and it would not have been pretty. He can be a really, _ really _ sore loser. Such a big baby.” She admitted, chuckling. Actually chuckling, “We’ll see you around, don’t be a stranger.” She winked at me and Lance. 

 

Lance looked liked a drunken sap when Ezor kissed him on the cheek sending a flashing ripple of anger to my chest. Her rainbow irises caught my look of hatred towards her, like I wanted to grab her waist-long hair and put a boring brown dye into it then chop it all off while her eyes were taped open so that she could look. All she did was laugh in my face when she followed Acxa out of the assembly hall, “Bye, boys.” She cooed in a seductive voice, Lance still looking drunk waving a couple ringed fingers at her. 

 

Adam, Pidge and Hunk were the only ones left in the assembly hall when everyone went home for the day. Lance was still standing close to me, the jerk of his hands telling me he wanted to hug me in comfort of my loss. But, to be completely honest, I was relieved. So relieved that I couldn’t wait to go eat birthday cake ice cream with my friends and family. My heart-rate had stilled, the warmth of my body only being warm whenever Lance was around instead of my anxiety causing a ruckus. It felt like the heaviest weight of my life had been lifted off my shoulders. Still, I was glad I got to be a part of this, it helped me open my eyes to see who I could become and strive to be in the future. 

 

I turned to Lance, an ocean calling to me with a sea breeze. He smiled, I smiled back wanting so bad to close the gap between our bodies, but there were people nearby and it would be too awkward to hug him without them thinking it was because of something else. 

 

“Ice cream?” I asked Lance, my gaze moving to Adam, Pidge and Hunk smiling at them. 

 

“My treat.” Lance answered, the lips tracing his bright smile being more tempting than the best ice cream flavor ever invented. 


	27. Abolished

“Hell no! Rocky road is the best flavor, you are wrong!” Pidge screamed like a little kid in my and Lance’s direction, her spoon packed with rocky road ice cream. 

 

Fucking disgusting, I hated chocolate ice cream to a degree that I’d let Lance braid my hair. On second thought, that sounded like a good idea, but my money was on that Lance sucked at braiding. 

 

“Chocolate is a disgrace to all ice cream flavors….Now, birthday cake.” I took a large bite of my ice cream forgetting anything existed at the moment, savoring the amazing flavor. 

 

Pidge only made a low grunt of frustration, then taking a spoonful of her ice cream and smearing it all over my birthday cake ice cream, “You...fucking gremlin.” I said in a low, sinister tone almost mimicking Lotor. 

 

Lance and Hunk were laughing a storm next to us eating their own bowls of ice cream. Hunk was on bowl number five, trying all the flavors he wanted to taste. He loved every single one of them. He was a man of many flavors, or he was really indecisive. 

 

“Hey, Hunk? How did it go with that chica?” Lance suddenly asked, switching ice cream bowls with me. 

 

Hunk’s cheeks bloomed a dark red color, his voice going shaky, laughing uncontrollably, “Her name’s Shay, and she’s amazing. We’ve been talking on the Cord every day. She goes to a different high school upstate so we have a long distance relationship, but it’s going really well. She likes all the same games as me, I even tried a brownie recipe she sent me and oh boy, they were the best brownies in the universe.” Hunk was so drunkenly in love it was almost sickening, but still cute. 

 

“Man, I’m jealous! I wouldn’t mind a chica to hold close to my hips. Smooches in the moonlight. Buying presents, singing songs.” Lance landed his head in his hands looking like he was watching one of his favorite romance movies.  _ Tangled _ , definitely  _ Tangled _ .  

 

“Don’t you have like a million girls begging for you at school? All you ever do is brag about these chicas you’re boning…” I stuffed a large spoon with ice cream in my mouth to keep my mouth shut. My jealousy had to cool down, I was only attracted to him, he could date whoever, not that I cared. 

 

Lance ignored my question stuffing his own face with more ice cream, a loud hum of delight vibrating off of him, “So, what are our plans for the next weekends? Keith, birthday? Homecoming?” He asked us, but we didn’t know what to answer him. We were nerds, the outcast of GP, we weren’t expected to go to homecoming. I was a senior and I  _ still  _ hadn’t gone to homecoming, it wasn’t on my itinerary for this year either. But, incoming, Lance McClain. 

 

“Seriously! You guys! We are going to homecoming whether you like it or not.” He exclaimed, finishing his ice cream, an ocean crashing into me when he caught my stare. 

 

“I dunno...I don’t like being around so many people, and then there’s the dancing…and like do I wear a dress or a suit?” Pidge fidgeted her hands looking distressed. 

 

“Girl! You wear whatever, we live in 2019 no one should judge anyone today! Own your body.” Lance pointed a spoon at her, a bright smile directed at her, but ended up warming me almost melting my ice cream nearing my mouth. 

 

“Cool, cool, cool. Can we discuss Homecoming later? I need to bounce, mom wants me home now to try out a new recipe. Pidge you’re tagging along, I hate riding the bus alone.” Hunk dragged Pidge away from the table as she was shoveling her last bite of her ice cream, then looked at me like him and Pidge leaving was part of some diabolical plan. 

 

I shot them both an evil glare when he and Pidge left the parlor in a haste. Lance was back at the counter ordering his third bowl of ice cream. The girl behind the counter was the same girl from our first time here together. She was wearing a bright smile on her face when she looked over at me sitting in our booth. I waved when she waved at me, probably thinking Lance and I were still dating. 

 

“Man, I feel like kicking Loturd in the nuts. You should have won, Mullet. You’d make a fine president.” said Lance, placing a large bowl of birthday cake ice cream on the table with two large spoons sticking out of it, “Man, just thinking about you wearing a suit and sitting by a large wooden desk looking all important makes me tingle…” Lance chuckled at the thought of me looking like a real president, as if that would ever happen. 

 

“Yeah, the loss hurt but I’m kind of relieved. I think with school, home, being with you guys and college, my anxiety would get to me pretty quickly if I won…” I admitted grabbing a spoon. 

 

Lance had a contemplated look on his golden face, his peachy lips frowning for the first time in forever, “I’m sorry for ever nominating you. If I had known you better, and that you...” He began, but I shot a gloved hand up to his face, shaking my head, but I meant it well. 

 

“You have nothing to apologize for, Lance. I’m still glad we got to be a part of this. It was an experience for me, and much of an eye opener.” I smiled brightly with all of my teeth, not letting my loss or this whole election get to either of us. We had to keep a positive vibe. 

 

“How so?” He asked, grabbing his own spoon. 

 

For one, it brought us closer, but I didn’t feel like telling him that, feeling a tinge of heat finding my cheeks like always when I was around him, “I was able to become someone, like you said the first day you drove me home. I realized that I was a nobody, and was able to make a name for myself. And most importantly it...well it pleased you.” I said, thinking about how happy he was when I gave my speech while licking my spoon clean of ice cream, staring intently at him then pointing my polished spoon at him, “Also we officially became friends without ripping each other’s heads off.” 

 

“Instead we ended up with our heads full of glitter.” Lance chuckled, a soft smile finding his face, “I still find glitter on my scalp when I shower, but it was so worth it.” He winked, an ocean wave hitting me flat in the face. 

 

Just looking at the goofy boy sitting in front of me, pummeling in with our favorite ice cream, I knew I had to do it. It felt like the right thing to do. I was finally brave enough to roam the school without feeling afraid anyone was going to call me stupid names, or cower in the music room as often as I did the first three years of high school. Being with Lance. He has been able to help reduce my anxiety so much. I have a lot to thank him for, but I think us finally becoming friends is a good start. Still, I feel like I need to repay him in some way, and I hope my next question will be alright.  

 

“Heh...Yeah. Listen Lance…” My hands started fiddling with each other, feeling the nerves shoot up in every nerve ending I own in my fingers. I wasn’t exactly sure where I was going with this, feeling that loud thump in my ears coming back, but when my dark gaze caught his smiling face, I knew, just knew it was now or never,  “Do you want to go to homecoming...together?” I asked making a scrunched up face. 

 

Lance was mid bite of his ice cream when I asked him, the green specks in his eyes flying everywhere almost creating a new ocean on the map of the world, “What like together, together? Like a date?” He then asked, his tone hard to decipher. He was smiling too, but he was always smiling so it was hard to tell if he was being serious or just his usual mocking self. 

 

I shook my head rapidly feeling my face bursting with steam like from an anime, “No, well, no...just together you know without any dates. I dunno where I’m going with this, but you and me go to homecoming together, as friends without anyone else.” I tried to explain, but Lance had that same face whenever I tried to explain algebra to him. 

 

Lance wounded up throwing the spoon back in the container, then slapping the flat of his hands on the table, his face a look of realization. He leaned forward to my face, his breath of birthday cake ice cream making me go hungry again, finding my nose, before he shouted, “Keith, that’s a fucking date….” He looked down at the table with his eyes closed, almost like he was irritated until he opened his mouth again, “But okay, we’ll go...As friends.” Then his eyes squinted.  _ Scheming face. _ What now? “Only if you finally abolish the fucking rules. I hate them almost more than I hate Lotor.” He rapped his black painted fingernails on the table challenging me when he sat back down on his chair. 

 

“Deal.” I answered without a second thought. I trusted Lance enough that he knew which territories not to tread with personal questions. Also we bullied each other enough in class that it has become comical, like we were buddy cop rivals in space or something. 

 

“Cool beans. Then as my first personal question to you now that we’ve abolished that effin rule…” He began. I leaned in closer with anticipation to his question. What personal question could he possibly ask me now? 

 

His arms were crossed, face in a hard thinking state, before his blue eyes found me, “What’s your romantic situation?” He was wearing a sinister smile, like he had a plan going on in his brain. 

 

Shit? I wasn’t expecting that question to pop up between us. Why did he even care? Also, do I tell him that I’m gay or maybe he’s already caught on to that? I certainly, in no way possible wanted to tell him how attracted I was to him. How he was constantly in my head. That when I woke up every morning, looking under the covers with a loud groan, I had to give a silent apology for thinking about him in that way. It was obvious that he liked girls, but needs were needs, I guess.

 

I groaned silently at the flash of the memory of my morning state this morning before I decide to answer him, “There’s no romantic situation, Lance…” I stay quiet a few seconds, still not sure what to tell him, “I just don’t have time to like anyone or have a relationship. My future is all planned out and being romantically involved with someone before college would just be a nuisance.” Was all I could muster hoping he took the hint to back off with these types of questions because he wouldn’t get anything else out of me, “Can we please talk about something else, this is getting embarrassing and unnecessary.” I shot him an angered glare letting him know how serious I was. 

 

“Okay, fine, chill….So, how about, erm, your biggest fear?” He then asked, still focused with these personal questions. Why did he even care? We were already friends, did we have to tell each other everything now?

 

Again, this was treading into unknown, and unwanted territories. Biggest fear? Meeting her again, of course, but thinking about her only causes my body to go weak. My sight to go blurry, my palms feeling clammy, brows growing heavy. Shit, just thinking about her right now is making my body react badly. 

 

Lance held a hand out to me, almost touching my face, but he drew it carefully back when I waved a hand at him to pull away from me. I didn’t need any saving, this was my own doing. He pulled his hand all the way back, holding it with his other hand, rubbing it like someone had swatted it with an electric fly swatter. 

 

“Sorry, Keith. I can see that was a dumb question….” He was still rubbing his hand, the ocean in his eyes turning dull with apology, “How about we get out of here and catch a movie instead. Again, I’m sorry...I wasn’t thinking..” Lance took a shot and reached forward with his hand again and found mine, threading our fingers together under the table, a soft grin of apology reaching my blurred state, his ocean eyes bringing me back to shore.  

 

I shook my head like it was nothing, tightening our hold under the table, “I’m fine, Lance..fine..My biggest fear is to be rejected, I guess.” I answered his question quickly before I said, “A movie sounds great, let’s go.” My stomach clenched when I had to release his hand. 


	28. Red

You know that  _ oof  _ sound that’s popular on the internet? Well, this morning I made the exact replica of the sound when Ruby landed on top of my sleeping body to scream her lungs out wishing me a happy birthday. 

 

Trust me, the kid is adorable to the max, but her jumping skills, killer. Let’s just say there wasn’t much oxygen left in my lungs to thank my family properly when Adam and Shiro made their way into my room with a cheesecake and eighteen candles stuck into it, while they sang happy birthday to me. 

 

Eighteen. I was practically an adult, but honestly, I still felt like a little kid. And that felt great. Not everyone needed to grow up immediately. I thought I had to act like an adult since I was fourteen and was given my first credit card, but from the moment I met Lance and learned so much about him. I knew being an adult could be postponed a couple more years. 

 

“Make a wish then blow out the candles.” Shiro prompted, wearing a bright smile sitting on the edge of my bed with Ruby on his lap clapping her hands in delight. 

 

“Can I wish for the school day off?” I joked, but knew it wouldn’t bode well with either Adam or Shiro. 

 

Adam stood with his hands on his hips taking in his family, “Haha, very funny. Make sure you get them all or else the remaining lights will let us know how many boyfriends you’re hiding from us.” He joked, setting the cake on my lap. 

 

Wish? What the hell did I want to wish for? Only little kids made wishes when they blew out the candles, but if I wanted to wish for something. I sucked in a deep breath, closed my eyes to make a wish, then blew out the candles in one single, long blow. 

 

“You missed one! Could it be Lance?” Adam teased, but was met with an angry glare. 

 

“Lance! Lance!” Ruby clapped each time she said his name, a bright smile tugging on her lips. 

 

“You two, enough teasing Keith. What do you think Lance got you for your birthday?” Shiro then asked, ignoring the remark from Adam. 

 

Why would Lance even get me anything. He’s probably forgotten my birthday anyways, I haven’t exactly paraded around him that my birthday was today. When I thought closely about it, I don’t think I ever mentioned my birthday being today except for last week after the election. He must have forgotten about it by then. 

 

Reading my quiet state, Adam spoke up, “Speaking of presents, let’s bring the cake down to the kitchen and we can give you our present.” He slapped his hands together before taking the cake from my lap and waving a hand at us to follow him downstairs. 

 

We all sat with each our plate of cake, a hum of pleasure leaving my throat when I took a bite of the creamy deliciousness. Adam and Shiro were both looking intently at me, looking at each other with a silent conversation. 

 

“You’re finally eighteen, Keith. You’re practically an adult, and you’ll be leaving for college when you graduate.” Shiro started, both his hands resting on my shoulders, his gray gaze staring proudly at his husband, “So..since you weren’t given one on your sixteenth birthday. We knew now would be the perfect time to buy you one since we want you to visit us a lot when you move.” 

 

“Sooo…” Adam was holding a small, blue box, holding it out to me while it rested on the palm of his brown hand. 

 

“You’re going to marry me?” I said glumly, looking at the small box not really understanding what it was they were giving me. Was I really that oblivious? 

 

“Keith...don’t joke on your birthday. Shiro and I, we bought you a car!” Adam flashed a bright smile in my direction. 

 

I was too stunned to even think. A car? Really? My legs straightened from the chair on their own, moving to the front door. In the driveway, stood a bright apple red, Fiat 500. A car. Son of a gun, those two actually bought me a car. Like a thing I could drive. 

 

Warmth found my shoulder, Adam came to view when I craned my neck, “You guys didn’t need to buy me a car. Lance, he drives me…” 

 

“Hey! Now you can drive Lance. He’s probably sick of driving you guys, too. You guys can take turns. I bet he’s used a lot of money on gas. Also, college.” Adam reminded me.

 

He was right, If I got into my dream college, we were speaking of at least a distance of three hours. A car would have made things much easier instead of taking a bus all the time. My lips tugged into a warm smile. I couldn't wait to show Lance and the guys, they’re going to freak, I thought. 

 

“I need to call Lance to tell him he doesn’t have to drive to school today! Thank you!” I hugged Adam, then Shiro who were now standing with me in the driveway, all of us in our pajamas.

 

Shiro made a quick glance at his wrist, a black brow shooting up as fast as Lance’s driving, “Shoot, we’re gonna be late! Let’s get inside and get ready, Rubes! Keith, I’m letting your curfew extend by an hour since it's your birthday. Have fun with your friends after school.” 

 

Ever since Lance visited us that day we brought Kosmo, Shiro’s been more, laid back. He has been less strict with me, treating me like the person I wanted to be. Less controlling, less demanding, but he was still persistent with my grades. If I ever came home with something lower than a B, I was grounded for a week to focus on my studies. So, some of strict dad Shiro was still there, but something had changed in him. And for the better since our relationship had grown much more, closer. 

 

In my room after rummaging through my closet to find a birthday outfit, I went with wearing Lance’s The Clash t-shirt and a zippered red hooded sweater, and black skinny jeans. It was the end of October and the weather was getting colder. Still, my leather jacket managed to warm me, so I could sport it until the last minute. Maybe Lance had to take me shopping again soon for warmer clothes. Not only that, there was homecoming this weekend, and Lance said yes to go with me, as a friend, nothing else. But, we still needed to buy suits for the event or I could borrow something from Adam or Shiro, but I knew Lance would freak at that idea. Everything had to be in fashion with him. I rolled my eyes with a smile on my face at the thought. 

 

I dialed his number. 

 

“Morning, Mullet. Sup, I’m about to roll.” Lance said on his end, you could still hear how tired he was. 

 

We wounded up gaming until past 1AM last night. Shiro bursted through my door like an axe murderer when we both ended up screaming at each other for support. His tired, angry face was not a pretty sight and made me find my bed pretty quickly right after that. 

 

Hearing Lance’s voice made a small flutter in my gut, but the fluttering stopped when he didn’t wish me a happy birthday. Guess he did forget, “Hey! No need to drive today, I’ll be by your house in fifteen. Stand outside your front door by then. See ya.” I ended the call without even getting a confirmation, I’ll just assume he’ll listen to me. 

 

I kissed Ruby on the cheek and hugged my dads thanking them again for my present before I took in my new ride. She was beautiful, Red. Her name was officially dubbed Red the moment I laid eyes on her. She was a Red, alright.

 

Hearing the ignition start was music to my ears. Her leather seats felt amazing on my body, pressing on the seat warmer made my backside all set for this day. I put on my latest list of obsessed songs, then pulled out of the driveway to pick up the gang. 

 

In the time span of two months, I’ve only been by Lance’s house once. He never talked about his folks, and he never invited us over to his house. I haven’t even met his parents yet. There had to be something he was hiding about them, like maybe they were murderers and he was protecting them or being held hostage, or he was in on their killings. I quickly folded that thought when I took in a tall, bronze delinquent wearing a look of surprise when he saw me driving Red.

 

My own face mirrored his shocked stare when I took in what he was wearing. He looked so, dashing. Blazers were made for his tall build. Lance looked handsome as hell pulling off a dark blue blazer with a white t-shirt underneath and washed out blue jeans. Even his hair was slicked to the side. I had to do a double take to make sure I was looking at my delinquent friend and not a millionaire trying to win my heart. He could have been both to be completely honest, and still win me over.  

 

“Holy shit, man! Nice wheels.” Lance took in the leather interior, gliding his hands on the seat, getting situated in our new ride. When his hand was done feeling up my girl, he turned to face me, his usual grin finding his face. My whole body shuddered when his hands pulled me in for a tight, warm hug. His voice tingling my ear when he said, “Happy birthday, Keith.” Then, and this almost made my heart stop beating, he kissed my cheek. 

 

The sudden kiss was harmless, and as quick as a bolt of lightning hitting the ground, but I swear to everything that exists this kiss would be a part of my skin for eternity. All I could do was blink at him, taking in the green specks in his irises bouncing side to side with pure satisfaction. Lance’s whole face beamed when he pulled back to look at my new shocked face. 

 

When my face found its normal temperature, and my heart rate finally steadied, I smiled warmly back at him. My hand found my cheek, the exact spot he kissed trying to catch the phantom feeling of it in my hand so that I could put it in an envelope and hide it under my pillow for safe keeping. It might not have meant anything for him, could be a Cuban thing but still, it would be cherished by me no matter what. 

 

“Thanks.” I said, still holding my hand to my cheek not sure how to react to him kissing my cheek. It was just a simple kiss, almost like a brother would kiss his little sister. But, this kiss felt somewhat more, romantic. I didn’t know what to make of it, but Lance wasn’t taking it any further so I decided to not take it any further either and start the car instead.

 

“I need to give you your present, man! I spent all week on it.” Lance smiled brightly, finding his phone, hooking it up to the bluetooth on my stereo. 

 

“Lance, you didn’t need to get me anything.” I waved my hand at him, my dark eyes following the road, driving to Pidge’s. Besides, that kiss on the cheek was the cherry on top of everything. Nothing could beat that, not even birthday cake ice cream.

 

“Nonsense, you’ll have to get me something better when it’s my turn.” He challenged, hitting the play button on his phone. 

 

Always turning things into contests. Typical Lance. Well, he did say he was my rival. I’ll have to get him something good, but first I needed to see what he actually got me before I could best him. The stereo turned up, music sounding from the speakers. Piano music played, a song I recognized instantly, but the vocals didn’t belong to MARINA, no, they belonged to Lance. 

 

His voice sounded like an angel, so pure, so beautiful. The lyrics to  _ Handmade Heaven _ were my favorite in the world, reminding me of a world where there was just two lovers flying away in a beautiful blue sky. Whenever I listened to the song, I always imagined myself having one wing and Lance having the other and together we would form wings of a bird. I know, super sappy, but this song has helped me through a lot of my anxiety.

 

The song ended just as we reached Pidge’s place. She wasn’t ready yet so I took the opportunity to thank Lance. My feelings for him were still everywhere, courage not being on my side at the moment, but I did dare to grab his hand in mine, squeezing it tightly. 

 

“Damn, I love it. I love your voice so much. I get it, Lance. Why you want to take a year off and focus on your music. You’re amazing at it…” I left some unsaid words float in the air, this wasn’t the time for more arguments. I was still steadfast on him going to college though, but when that time came we’ll discuss it. Today was my birthday and I wanted us all to have fun, not fight, we didn’t need that kind of drama. 

 

“What the hell! New car, who dis!? Damn, Keith. Congrats, and Happy b-day! Sweet..” Pidge shouted when she planted herself in the backseat, slapping me on the shoulder wishing me a happy birthday, but she was too focused on the new car than to even finish her sentence. 

 

Hunk’s face was priceless when he saw me driving into his driveway with Red. We knew he had a candy bar or two packed away somewhere in his dark green cargo pants. Hopefully, he would keep them to himself until we reached the school. When we reached his driveway, he didn’t budge. I pulled my window down when he walked towards me, then a screech left my throat when Hunk dived in through the window to give me a bear hug screaming, “Happy birthday, Keith!!!”

 

Lance and Pidge were snickering in the car at Hunk’s sudden play at trying to kill me with kindness, but his bear hug was comfortable and felt nice. I felt, loved. He finally released me, and found the back seat next to Pidge, praising my new car. Lance was wearing a look that told me he was thinking long and hard about something, but it was gone in seconds when his blue-green eyes caught mine. 

 

“So, you got anything planned for after school?” Lance asked, scrolling through my playlist, ignoring the guys in the back. 

 

Did he want to do something, just the two of us? My mind wandered thinking about things I knew was unlikely, so I just shook my head. I have nothing planned for today, birthdays weren’t usually my thing, they brought back too many painful memories, except for this one. This one was finally growing on me, and healing some sore spot in my heart, and in my memories. 

 

“Nope, nothing. Suggestions? I’m up for anything.” I smiled, trying to get any contact from Pidge and Hunk in the backseat looking at them through the mirror. 

 

“Roller rink!?” Pidge suggested happily, staring up from her DS. Hunk nodded eagerly next to her, rubbing his hands together, tongue stuck out, probably thinking about the amazing nachos and cheese they sold there. 

 

Lance was texting on his phone in rapid speed before he said, “Done, and done. Roller rink it is. How’s your skating, Mullet?” He then challenged me, a smirk finding his tan face. 

 

I could feel his challenging smirk causing me to go red hot thinking about a contest that was bound to happen between us, “Enough to beat your slow ass.” I shot back at him before I made a  _ Tokyo Drift  _ turn into the school parking lot, taking in the shocked stares of my friends.

 

_ This is going to be fun a birthday, _ I thought.  


	29. Dodge

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Super long chapter, but a fun one! Hope you guys like it. I'm sure some of you will be glad that something is finally happening between the two, but there's still a ways to go...sorry not sorry.

The one thing I hated about birthdays was the singing. It never stopped. If their voices didn’t sound like Lance’s, they didn’t need to sing, in my opinion. Why did teachers feel like they did us a favor to remind the whole school that someone had a birthday. Not only that, why did Adam have to go and embarrass the hell out of me thinking it would be a good idea to sing for me through the speaker.

 

Adults. I never want to grow up, not after today, I thought while trying to keep a happy smile on my face listening in on the rest of my class sing along with Adam. Some of my classmates were singing genuinely, clapping along to Adam’s tone deaf voice. Others were wearing expressions of boredom, and looks that said _why the hell does this guy get special treatment just because he’s the principal’s kid?_

 

“Happy birthday, Keith! Have fun today, we love you at home.” I could picture Adam’s smug smile seep through his voice when the speaker finally died with a thudding noise.

 

Before anyone could wish me a happy birthday personally, I was saved by the bell, literally. Lance got up first to be my security guard on the way out of the classroom to make sure no jerks stopped us to comment on my special treatment. Like come on, he’s my dad, let a father be able to spoil his kid a bit, but like not in front of the whole school though.

 

The rest of GP’s _finest_ were roaming the corridors, giving me knowing looks. Some of the students stopped by my locker to wish me a happy birthday, and others, like Jimmy Connolly felt the need to say some pretty rotten stuff to my face. I was good at ignoring those types of comments since I was used to them the last three years going here. But one thing had changed, it was the looks the other students in the halls were giving Jimmy after his snide comment.

 

They were backing me up, growing closer and closer to Jimmy until he took the hint and stormed off in a raging fit. This would have never happened a year ago. I would have taken the snide comment and turn it into tears in the music room, but this, this was the result of opening my mouth and telling it like it was for me. How I wanted to be a somebody, be seen, and now I was noticed. It felt...nice.

 

I smiled in the direction of my fellow students who helped backed me up. Nodding in their direction not having enough time to open my mouth and properly thank them for their help when the next bell rang. Lance grabbed at my sleeve, holding his gym bag for P.E. to drag us to the gym.

 

“Looks like your speech reached the students, Keith. Nice….erhm, not that I ever doubted you.” Lance said in the locker room while we changed to our P.E. uniforms of shorts and t-shirts in the colors of red and white.

 

I stated earlier that we didn’t need to wear uniforms at Garrison Prep even if it is a private school, but for P.E. we all needed to wear the required uniform, but it was no big deal for the students, the colors suited the most of them, and they were a soft fit of cotton and stretchy polyester.

 

For the first time since we started hanging out, I couldn’t stop looking at Lance change into his gym uniform and it bugged me enough to pack up and burn in the sun. His chest and stomach were presented to me in the fluorescent light, causing my cheeks to become a canvas for red paint to be splattered on.

 

I turned around towards my locker to change hiding from my friends nakedness as much as possible. I made a sudden extra birthday candle wish that Lance hadn’t caught onto my gawking at his  bronze, perfectly toned body. I swallowed at the image in my head before I heard Lance behind me chuckling ludly, but at what or who I wasn’t sure. Being half-naked next to Lance found my thoughts instead. It was enough to have him almost naked next to me, but now it was my turn to get dressed and all I could think about was my own body, and how self-conscious I was of it, especially compared to Lance’s.  

 

A quiet groan of irritation breathed out of  my mouth at the thought of my overthinking again. It was my birthday, I didn’t want to think about stupid things like my thin body, compared to the other students in my class like Ryan’s strong athletic build, or James’ perfectly toned, muscular arms. It wasn’t fair. No matter how much I worked out or ran, my muscles would always stay lean, my stomach flat but with hardly any muscle. Had Lance ever looked at me like I look at him, he would find me disgusting.

 

I slam my locker door in irritation of my self confidence. Why couldn’t I just love my body, I was the only person who would ever care anyways. No way would Lance ever want to look at me like I look at him. He was too focused on breasts and big asses, I think. Man, these thoughts, I hate them, I should just come clean one day and ask him straight up, does he go both ways, or is it all female as his preference. But, there wasn’t time before he stood right next to me.  

 

“Come on, I heard a rumor we were gonna play dodgeball. I’m insanely good at dodgeball, pray to the gods that we land on the same team, or you’ll be digging your own grave, Kogane.” Lance patted my now clothed back, said hand tugging at some t-shirt dragging me along to follow him out to the gym hall.

 

Coach Iverson, our P.E. teacher, who always looks like those military sergeants in movies; tall, buff and intimidating, was waiting for us to line up in front of him so that he could give his usual speeches of encouragement. I would rather call them forced words of death to us all during P.E. because dude knew how to work a sweat on you, but I would never talk back at him. He was scary enough to look at, almost like a villain from a _Die Hard_ movie.

 

“Man, he never shuts up..does he?” Lance grumbled when he leaned into me as we stood in a perfect line-up next to each other trying to pay attention to Coach Iverson’s speech for today’s P.E. class. He didn’t even recognize my birthday, ignoring it all in one.

 

Coach held a dodgeball out in front of the line. A scary face finding his features, knowing well he’d have to pick team captains. Please don’t pick me, please don’t pick me, I prayed, but he pointed a thick index finger at me, definitely remembering it was my birthday now when he said, “Since it’s Kogane’s special day, we’ll give him one of the captain’s spots.”

 

His outstretched finger wiggled in and out for me to find a spot to stand next to him. I raised my brows in a desperate attempt at help when I looked at Lance, but he slapped my back instead, pushing me forward to Coach. Thanks a lot, dingus, I thought making my way to stand next to who I would have thought was Dwayne Johnson.

 

“Good. Now for our next captain.” Coach took his finger and didn’t move it far when it landed on Lance, “McCalain! I see you hanging with Kogane, time to show who’s the best of the best. You up for the challenge?” He asked with pride, now crossing his beefy arms.

 

“Hell yeah, coach. Time to meet your demise, Kogane.” Lance planted his long legs on Coach’s other side, leaning forward to intimidate me, his brows waggling up and down, a challenging smirk curling on his face.

 

What got me worked up was how saturated his blue-green eyes became as soon as this turned into a battle between delinquent and tutor. This was not going to end well, unless I was able to pick a good team. Which would all be decided if I was given first pick. Coach had to be generous enough to give me that since it was my birthday, I thought.

 

I was wrong, he held a coin and a toss was made. Luckily for me though, I shouted heads and it landed on heads. My first pick went immediately to Ryan Kinkade, our star athlete at school, and Mr. Popular.

 

“Alright, we got this.” Ryan crooned at me, his smile blinding me in the already brightly lit room. My cheeks started to heat at him, the memory of my first crush slowly coming back to me.

 

“Griffin, get your ass over here.” Lance waved the brown haired boy over to him, he towered a couple inches above Lance, his lanky, but muscled build intimidating me all a new.

 

Once the teams were picked, and we felt we had a strong team, Lance and I found our spots on each our side of the court, ready to jump in when there was only player left or no players left, having to go against each other at the end to decide who wins.

 

Coach threw the red dodgeball in the air yelling “fight!”, Ryan jumped up high to catch the ball already hitting a player out. I knew I picked well, giving Lance a childish out-sticking tongue at him. He mirrored my look, then pretended to scratch his nose but with his middle finger, giving me the bird indirectly. I couldn’t help but laugh at him, smiling. He smiled back at me, then bend his knees ready to catch the ball on his side to strike out players on my team.

 

Damn, he was good at everything if he was dedicated enough. And dodgeball was no exception. He had struck out four of my teammates, resulting it with me having to run to the other side to back up the rest of my team. Meaning it was only me and one other player; Ryan.

 

On the other side, we found the rest of my team yelling for me to dodge, duck, dip, dive, and dodge again. Which was exactly what I was doing, and man was I doing well, too. Having Lance as my rival, I felt the motivation to win against the dweeb. Ryan and I acted like we had been cop partners for years, yelling at each other what to do to either grab the ball or duck when it was making its way towards one of us.

 

The ball landed in Lance’s court, his hand gripping the ball tightly, his gaze steadfast on mine, “It’s time to die, Kogane.” Lance held the ball up high behind his face before it was released with so much force I was scared he was actually planning on killing me with the blow, but Ryan shouted “duuuuck” and made his way behind me to grab the ball, his tongue stuck out at the delinquent.

 

“Suck on that McClain.” Ryan suddenly said being affected by the game. He could be a sore loser, and always turned into a prick in P.E.

 

It was fun to catch Lance’s surprised look at Ryan’s taunt, but I was going to be the main attraction of this court. If there was one thing I knew about my body, it was how fast I was. When the ball fell into Lacey’s hands, she threw it to James so that he could try to pummel it at me, but too late, I was jumping away then rolling to catch the ball before it landed back on his shoulder, hitting him out of the game. Ryan pumped a fist, his white smile finding mine.

 

With Lacey being left on the court, that only meant Lance had to save the team with her. He strutted over to the other side of the court never losing focus on my gaze. There was a red hot zap of friction between our stares while he made his way over to Lacey.

 

“Feeling the pressure, Lancey-Lance?” I taunted, Ryan’s taunting rubbing off on me now.

 

“Just getting started, Kitten.” Lance shot back, stretching out his arms and legs before I ran towards the line to jump-throw the ball at him.

 

In a swift motion, Lance rolled away like this was an action movie. He caught the ball on the floor, and threw it back as fast as lightning hitting Ryan’s back. He couldn’t have seen it coming. With Ryan out of the game, it was only me left and with two more lives before game over. I grabbed at the ball and tried to strategize a way to get Lacey out first.

 

Lacey was looking at Lance for guidance, but he merely directed her to focus on me and the dodge ball in my hands. My plan was to feint a throw at Lance then pummel it on to Lacey when she wasn’t looking. It succeeded, the ball hitting her stomach. She stomped a foot on the floor before making her way to the rest of the beat team.

 

It all came down to the battle between delinquent and tutor. Everyone was yelling, or whooping for either of us to win. We hadn’t had this much fun in P.E for a while. Even Coach was into the game, screaming tactics to both of us. Their screams and shouts had turned into white noise, when all I wanted to focus on was the golden boy smirking in front of me.

 

With the ball in my hand, and a wide open court, it was hard to pinpoint a spot that could hit the bronze delinquent. Taunting would have to do the trick, “Hey Lance, Ezor told me she was thinking about you the other day.” I lied, but his face perked up at the mention of the rainbow-haired girl he was currently obsessed with. Not that I cared.

 

“She wanted me to tell you something, but…” I started, holding the ball firmly in my grip.

 

Lance was all ears now, his focus on the ball completely gone. “But!?” He shouted back, desperate to know what Ezor told me.

 

Man, this guy, all it is with him is babes. He needed to set his priorities straight. Within the second he asked, I threw the ball as hard as possible, hitting his leg. One down, one more point to go. Lance didn’t care about the ball hitting out one of the two lives he had left. He was still focused on the thing with Ezor.

 

“What did she tell you, Keith!?” He shouted back, ignoring the snickering from the other students.

 

I made an exasperated loud growl at him, not of pure jealousy, but a little bit jealousy and dodged the ball making its way back to me. I should have never mentioned Ezor, his focus on the game was a lost cause now. “She told me you weren’t her type.” I said in an angered state, lying my ass off, but I didn’t want him to think about Ezor at the moment.

 

His face went from furrowed brows to understanding. Finally, he caught on to my taunting. “That’s low, Kitten. Even for you. We all know that I’m everyone’s type.” He winked a blue-green eye at me. It wasn’t hard to catch in the distance because of how saturated his eyes glowed in the light.

 

“Yeah well….at least we know you suck at dodgeball.” I stated, hitting him on his moneymaker, his crotch. He went down on his knees in defeat.

 

“Game!” Coach Iverson yelled, grabbing my arm to lift it up in victory, “Team Kogane is the winner! Good game, lads and girls, now hit the showers.” He blew on his whistle, because gym teachers loved to do that.

 

If this game didn’t earn me that well rewarded A, then I don’t know what would, I thought when I stretched a hand out to Lance who was still knees on the floor, his fist pounding it. He was worse than Ryan, seriously, you should see him when I kick his ass in Mario Kart. I chuckled as I stood next to him, pulling him up.

 

“Great game, Lance. Sorry, I used Ezor against you. I knew it would work though.” I lightly punched his shoulder.

 

“No biggie, I knew you were lying the moment I caught your look.” He smiled, making his way to the locker room.

 

“What look?” I asked, walking in step with him, curiosity boiling inside of me.

 

“Wouldn’t you like to know? A magician never reveals his secrets.” Lance slinged an arm around me, pulling me into the locker room.

 

Back in the locker room, I tried to not let me being naked in front of Lance get to me. He had shed his gym uniform only wearing a towel around his waist, hiding his...bits. I swallowed at the thought, trying hard not to let my attractiveness to the dimwitted boy take control of my body.

 

As I was about to take off my gym uniform, I caught an ocean pulling me in with green specks fluttering all over the place, “What is is?” I asked, when Lance was staring at me, his mouth ajar, some spittle trickling down the side of him mouth, “Lance, you’re drooling...what the fuck.” I laughed at the sight of the bronze boy.

 

“You’re sweaty…” He swallowed, balling his hand into an open fist, finding the drool to wipe it away.

 

“Uh, yeah...we both are. We just had an intense game of dodgeball, and if you didn’t break a sweat from my fantastic playing skills then I don’t know what will break ya.” I winked, feeling a waft of courage finding me.

 

“I can think of something else to help us break a sweat.” Lance shot back, a rush of blood finding my cheeks in light speed. _He did not just say that,_ I thought, then opened the locker door to find my things, ignoring Lance’s sudden use of innuendo.

 

He was laughing at something Ryan was talking about, shoring an ocean towards my direction again, his perfect brow arched at me like he was up to something, “What is it, Lance? I know you’re plotting something. Just spit it out already.” I bossed at him, slamming my locker door in his face, wrapping a towel around my own waist, forgetting that I was completely naked in front of him.

 

It was school, and P.E., we had been naked in front of each other many, many times. The problem with today of all days was that I was aware of how much Lance was starting to mean to me, and that included my racing heart every time I caught his attractive, golden face.

 

“Naww, It’s like we’re an old married couple, you knowing I’m hiding something.” He closed in on me, his smile causing my insides to do cartwheels, “Nah, we weren’t plotting anything, Mullet. I was asking Ryan to join us at the rink after school. It’s your birthday, dude, we need more people to celebrate with us.” His arm had found my shoulder, throwing a thumbs up at the dark chocolate skinned boy.

 

“Yeah, man. I’m kinda hurt, thought we were friends. James’ is tagging along, too. Now he’s the one who needs more friends.” Ryan cooed, winking a dark brown eye at the pale, spiky haired boy, who flipped us all the bird on his way to the showers.

 

“He means it with love.” Ryan said, following James to the showers.

 

Lance didn’t follow after them, waiting for me to join him. His hand had found the locker next to my face, head dipped low, staring at something on the floor, or so I thought. I took the opportunity to flick his nose, “Sup, man?” I asked, smiling broadly at him, despite us both being naked, except for our towels, next to each other and it was causing my whole body to convulse.

 

“I was just wondering if you were having a good birthday so far? Anything I can do to make it better? It’s your day after all, you deserve the best of the best today.” His peachy lips curled in delight, his face finally tipping up to catch my look of lusting for him. Damn these hormones, why did he have to have that face?  

 

We were all alone in the locker room, the rest of the boys in our class in the showers shouting to each other, the noise of running water echoing the whole locker room. Lance had come closer to my face, like he did it on instinct, reading my lusting look. _Maybe the look he was talking about earlier?_ I couldn’t control my eyes, the way they were taking in his ocean, the way they magnetized me, drawing me closer to him, creating a desperate wanting for his lips to fall on top of mine.

 

He had leaned an arm on my locker, trapping me beneath his hold. But, I didn’t feel trapped, I felt like I belonged. Right here, with Lance’s strong arm resting on the locker above my head, like we were in a shoujo manga. His face was leaned in close to mine, his peachy lips glistening from his smacking them in front of me. If I hadn’t lusted for him enough earlier...

 

It was just like the first time he was at my place, when I didn’t want him to leave, standing by the front door. An exact repeat of that staring contest, except this time, I knew why we were staring at each other like this. My lips were feeling extremely dry, heart beating like crazy, my brain turning into mush when I noticed Lance leaning even closer to my face, the tip of his nose grazing the tip of my nose, finding its rightful place next to mine as he came even closer, the feel of his soft lips almost gently grazing mine. So close, please, just a bit further.

 

“I…” Lance swallowed, looking down, not sure what to say, his laugh sounding bubbly when he took in how close our faces were. We had never been this close before, and the heat our bodies were producing along with the hot water from the showers wasn’t making things any easier. If only we both had the guts, but it was obvious that we were both cowards.

 

Lance continued to say something, licking his lips in the process, “I…wow...Mullet, I really....” He swallowed again, “want...” It was hard for him to form words for some reason. But, I could understand why, this was making me hazy, too.  

 

“Lance…” I whispered, my own voice sounding bubbly, the noise in the background turning into a distant white noise. Lance’s lips retreated at the sound of my voice. _Damn, no,_ I knew it was too good to be true. I continued with what I wanted to tell him now that we were still alone, “I’m having a great day so far..” I inched forward, our noses touching again, my breath going heavy, “but it could be better…” I tried to hint at him to close the fucking gap already, but it was no use because, right then, we both heard the boys coming back into the locker room, startling us from our willing closeness.

 

“Guys! What’s the hold up, get showering! Roller rink after! I’m gonna skate like crazy!” Ryan shouted all happily, “Oh, and we’re inviting Lacey and Carol to join, too. That alright?” He asked me and Lance.

 

Lance had made his way towards the showers ignoring Ryan’s question. I tapped our star athlete on the shoulder, “Sounds great, man. You’re driving right? I can’t fit more than four people in my ride, Hunk spaces for two people. We’ll meet at the rink.” I said, his bright smile enough to let me know it was more than alright.

 

In the showers, steam had fogged up the whole room. A shower head was running like crazy, the water splattering hard on Lance’s bronze, naked body. He was quiet. Unusually quiet for him, in my opinion. I had found a shower two heads down, trying hard not to bring back the moment we had earlier. His sudden quietness could be a result of what had almost happened between us. I thought giving each other space would be the best option. It was more than obvious that he lusted for Ezor, so me trying to reel him close to me would be a bad, bad idea. Especially since we were friends, too. I didn’t want to take that chance and ruin what good we had going now that we had become friends, and abolished all of the rules.  

 

My eyes couldn’t stop themselves, though. They took in the naked boy down two shower heads, his back to me. As I stated, we had seen each other naked plenty of times before, but again, never in a manner where I wanted to study every inch of him. His back was wide open, and for the first time ever, I noticed a large scar between his shoulder blades.

 

The scar looked like a small firework had bloomed from the middle of his shoulder blades, and rooting out towards the muscles of his shoulders blades, then trailed down the slope of his spine. It was a hauntingly beautiful sight, with its white contrast against his golden, tan skin, and I wanted to know how he got it; if it hurt him; to ask If I could touch it; pretend my touch could heal him. But, I knew it would be no use. If I asked him those questions, then I knew I would have to tell him the story of my scar, and that would be the death of me.

 

“Hey…” Lance caught my attention, pulling my gray gaze from his beautiful scar to his beautiful eyes.  

 

“Hey..” I answered through running water hitting my face, not letting my being naked in front of him embarrass me.  

 

“Ehrm...What almost happened back there….by the locker...I’m..” Lance began, but was interrupted by my shaking my head.

 

“Don’t sweat about it, Lance. It-It was nothing….” I went quiet for a second before I said, “right?” I cocked a brow at him while shampooing the long strands of my mullet, “We were caught up in the moment, is all…things like that...they happen.” I tried to get it through to him that it meant nothing. Except if he did end up kissing me, it would have meant everything in the world to me.

 

He was quiet again, the steam from the extremely warm water hiding his naked body from me, his head nodding frantically at my explanation of what had almost happened, “Let’s finish up, we’re going overtime here. Pidge and Hunk are probably waiting by the car. I’ll race ya.” His smile was back. He was back to being his old self, the boy who was seducing me in the locker room mere minutes ago was all gone, erased from this planet. It was an odd transition, but we had to hurry so there was no time to think about other things. Like a dimwitted, extremely hot delinquent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dang, hope you guys are here for the long run. I have like ten more chapters already written up and I don't feel even close to finishing the story. Thanks to all of you who are reading and enjoying it though. :D


	30. Skates

What happened between Lance and me in the locker room was taking up all of the space in my mind while I drove the four of us to the roller rink. Ryan was hauling behind us, almost urging for a race whenever his car neared Red's butt. 

 

Now was not the time for a race. First of all, and pretty much the only reason, Lance wasn’t in the driver’s seat. Had he been the one driving, we’d been drag racing all the way to the rink, but I’m the responsible one in the group and no one was dying on my watch today. Especially on my birthday of all days, and my car was a brand new babe in my life. If Shiro and Adam knew I raced her on the first day I used her, Shiro would kill me. Adam, on the other hand, he’d probably praise me, that past delinquent.  

 

Hunk had called shotgun when Lance and I found the dynamic duo leaned against my car after P.E. and our little moment in the locker room. Having Hunk sit next to me, and not Lance, was refreshing. He wouldn’t invade my thoughts with nose touching nose scenes, and almost kissing me. Except, in the rearview mirror, Lance’s face would catch my stare from time to time, a smile resting firmly on his golden face, again, making all of my insides melt into a sappy, little puddle. 

 

“Keith, has anyone ever told you, you drive like a friggin’ 90 year old. Put the fucking pedal to the metal, man..” Lance murmured in the backseat, his bad mood catching on to me. 

 

What happened between us in the locker room was clearly still present in his mind, and something was definitely bothering him. And I felt the need to find out what it was that was bothering him so much. He was clearly not into me like that, but his sudden pissy mood in the car was turning my 90 year old driving into a certain 17 year old’s driving. 

 

I took a rough turn, trying to mimic his  _ Tokyo Drift _ skills. The turn was awful, and Lance started cracking up in the back seat, Pidge laughing along with him. Hunk on the other hand, he was holding a brown hand up to his mouth, trying to hold in his lunch. 

 

“Hey! I take back what I said, you got some road runner in you after all, but Lancey-Lance is gonna have to give you some pointers later, Kitten.” Lance’s mood shifting was all over the place today, I had no idea who to believe when his mouth opened. 

 

As the roller rink made it’s view, we spotted a large yellow and pink sign blinking “Skates”, and I swerved the car into the parking lot ready for some skating action with the gang and our tagalongs. Ryan parked next to me; James, Lacey and Carol spilling out of his black BMW X5. Guy had money, and it showed. Luckily, he was the nicest guy at our school, so the money never rubbed off of him turning him into a dick. 

 

Pidge and Hunk darted to the entrance in a super fast fleeting motion. One moment they were in the car, and the next, they were already by the entrance waving for us to hurry it up. Lance caught my gaze, rolling his eyes at the dynamic duo. I smiled back at him, hoping his mood would stay like this for the rest of the day. We walked towards the entrance had in step with our new gang, talking about school, Halloween, and our closest event; homecoming. 

 

My gaze caught a sun beaming inside the roller rink. Lance looked around the inside of the rink. A large cafe on one side, a small arcade with the essential games on the other, and in the middle, flooding practically the entire building, was the rink. Disco lights flared with different colors on the hardwood, slippery floor; a DJ booth in one corner playing 80’s music for the skaters to dance to while skating the large ring, and Lance was already on his way to rent skates. 

 

He grabbed my hand to get the skates, and stat. “Holy mami, why haven’t we gone here sooner, Mullet? I love skating! Time for you to see my moves, Kogane.” Lance was tying his laces on his skates, already on his feet moving towards the rink. 

 

“Hold your horses, man. I haven’t even tied a single lace here. You’re awfully chippery now. What’s gotten into you?” I asked him, my face focused on the skates, tying the laces all nice and tightly, both loops looking like perfect bunny ears, just like Shiro taught me when I was a little kid.  

 

Hunk had found the cafe, already digging into his favorite nachos. Always food with him, but he wouldn’t be Hunk if he wasn’t stuffing his face with chilli cheese staining his orange headband. Also, he had been nagging me all week about those friggin’ nachos, it was a relief to see him pummeling into them with a happy smile, but I knew it would be impossible to get skates on him. He’d hurl the second he rolled onto the rink. We’ll have to see, maybe Pidge has a trick or two up her sleeve.  

 

Speaking of a said gremlin. Pidge was already on the rink, skating her heart out. She was small and fast, so each time we lifted our gazes towards the rink she had zoomed past like a green light. I smiled at the rink, all set to do some skating. 

 

“Damn, gurl got skills. Come on, come on, my feet are getting angsty here, Mullet!” Lance was tugging at my hood, his bright smile becoming one of the disco lights for the rink. 

 

All I had to do was chuckle at his childish behaviour, it reminded me of when Adam and Shiro used to bring me here on the weekends to keep my mind off of bad memories. Usually, it would work, but other times, I’d find myself trying to figure out how to breathe in the boy’s restroom. Today though, almost ten years later, with Lance by my side looking as happy as can be, I had a feeling it was going to be anxiety-less. Specially with this Cubano boy holding me up, still tugging at my shirt, pointing to the rink.  

 

“Let’s ride, McClain.” I got up, following him out to the rink, that was now playing  _ Hold the line _ by Toto, one of Adam’s favorite songs. 

 

We met with Ryan, James, Lacey and Carol on the rink, skating like they hadn’t skated since our carpooling days. James was actually smiling, a rare sight, his brown puppy dog eyes focused on our class representative, Lacey. Ryan had grabbed hold of Carol’s hand, skating away from the rest of us. 

 

While we skated, Lance made a challenging look my way. I knew that look very well. He wanted a race. So be it, I thought bending low, arms ready to hint at the race to start once a new song popped on. The guitar rhythm to  _ You give love a bad name _ came on, I waved my arm for the race to start, and Lance and I were off.

 

Lance was a super fast skater, but that could be his long legs in action.  _ Cheater, _ I thought. But, laughed it off when I caught up to him, my smirk finding him in the blink of an eye, then focusing back on the rink trying to dodge other skaters. We made it around the rink, grabbing hold of the opening to stop our speed. 

 

“Who won!?” Lance asked, when we both noticed our hands had found the ledge of the rink at the sametime. We were both out of breath, a smile finding our faces when we made contact once our breaths came back to our lungs.  

 

“Draw? Maybe we can go again, or?” My suggestion was too late, when the DJ said, “Alright, love birds, grab a hand and skate like you’re making looove….” He cooed gently into the mic. Which was kind of gross, but DJs are kind of gross. Couples were now finding each other, or friends, they could be friends, too. Everyone on the rink were hand in hand, skating gently around the rink like it was a slow motion movie.  

 

Lance held a hand out to me, confusion finding my face, “Lance, only couples can skate now.” I said, still looking at his hand like it was a lost treasure, and I was a pirate wanting only to hold on to it. 

 

“Fuck the system. Look, Ryan and James are skating.” He nodded his head towards the rink. 

 

“Yeah, but they’re holding hands with Lacey and Carol.” I interjected, an angry tone finding my voice, the memory of the locker room, our noses touching, his peachy lips almost finding mine.  

 

“Yeah but they’re not dating, come on, I promise my hand isn’t sweaty.” He waved his hand in my face, before the back of his hand hit my face like he always did. 

 

I couldn’t hide my smile, and grabbed his hand as we made our way to the rink again catching up with the others. Pidge, and Hunk believable enough, had found the rink, too, hand in hand as best friends. Seeing them holding hands made me feel better at holding Lance’s hand during the love song.  _ Heaven is a place on Earth _ played, and Lance was mouthing the lyrics. I tried to imagine his voice, since the music was so loud deafening him if he was singing out loud. 

 

Once the song finished, a new song came on and it was back to normal, but Lance and I were still holding hands, his grip only tightening my hold instead of loosening it after the song. Having his hand in mine felt nice, but it only brought up new confusing thoughts. I didn’t know what to think of this, was it only friendly or did this mean anything more? 

In my peripheral vision, I spotted long rainbow locks, letting go of Lance’s hand instantly when they made contact with us. Ezor and Acxa stood by the rink’s opening, leaning on the ledge with their feet sporting skates.

 

“Ezor, Acxa, always a pleasure. What brings you two here?” Lance found his hunky voice, giving Ezor those lusting blue eyes I hated so much. 

 

“I’m gonna skate a bit more, Lance.” I said, but he was lost in the rainbow hair swishing in front of us. Acxa caught my angered glare at the bronze boy, but didn’t pay more attention to it. 

 

Once I started skating again, I heard Ezor’s voice asking Lance something. I decided to skate very, very, slowly. “So, Lancey...got a date for homecoming, cause I know a certain cheerleader who would love to go with a certain Latino delinquent.” She smiled broadly, a gold diamond stuck to one of her teeth, glinting in the disco light turning it into different colors like her hair. 

 

I stopped skating, feeling people skate around me. Lance’s voice found my ears, “You’re too late, Chica. Lancey-Lance has already snagged a hot date.” His bubbly laugh finding my ears, too, creating a flurry of pleasure in my gut.  _ Suck on that _ , I thought wanting to stick my tongue out to the rainbow haired girl, and flip her the bird, fuck, Lance has definitely been rubbing off on me lately. 

 

“Aww, who?” She pressed, a whine leaving her throat. 

 

“Secret, but a total babe, that’s for sure.” 

 

I could hear the smile in his voice at the mention of babe. Would he ever call me that,  _ babe? _ The nickname felt so much better than mullet or kitten.  _ Babe.  _ Fuck, I wanted him to call me that so bad, but. I started skating again, hoping the girls or Lance didn’t see me eavesdropping on them. 

 

Lance caught up to me, his smile lighting up more than the disco lights. “Hey Mullet! I think we need some grub!” He rubbed his belly, sticking his tongue out to me, winking one of his blue-green eyes. 

 

Pidge, Hunk, Ryan, James, the girls and even Ezor and Acxa were all waiting at a large table in the cafe. What was also waiting for me on the table was a birthday cake with the writing in bright red icing:  _ Happy 18th birthday, Mullet!   _ and eighteen candles stuck around the writing. 

 

Do 18 year olds cry? Like, is that allowed? My gaze became misty when the lot started singing for me, and then the whole roller rink was singing when the DJ put on the familiar birthday tune. From today though, I could guarantee that 18 year olds cry. And a lot, too. Because I couldn’t stop the tears from spilling down my cheeks. They were tears of joy though, don’t think otherwise at all. Lance had a wide grin on his face when he caught my wet state, almost like he had thrown me into a pool, but the tears dried up when I wiped my sleeve across my face, instantly laughing and smiling to everyone who sang for me. 

 

“Seeya guys, thanks for today, and for the presents! I’m picking you guys up for the rest of the week.” I waved to Hunk and Pidge who were both getting out of the car to go to Pidge’s house. 

 

Pidge and Hunk had gotten me the latest Razor headset with the cat ears that Adam and Shiro said was an unnecessary buy. We’ll see about that when I’m going to wear it everywhere in the house just to annoy the crap out of them. 

 

“So, you next?” I held my gloved hands steadily on the wheel, stretching my fingers then tightening on the wheel again, just to get the blood flowing in me. 

 

After the birthday cake and the song, we skated a bit more then played some arcade games. We had to call it quits early, duly to it was a school night, and Pidge’s curfew was 9PM, and ours were 10PM. Also, I wanted a reason to drive Red again so I insisted that we drive her home, with Hunk tagging along, too. 

 

Lance shook his head at me, my side-vision catching chestnut hair flying in all kinds of directions, ”Nah, we still have an hour until curfew. Let’s make the most of it, it’s still your day. I know a place you can drive.” 

 

I followed the GPS to the top of a hill with a lookout point. There was also a camping table, and a nice spot to park the car. The October air was cold in the evening, but being alone with Lance in the cool, night air warmed me up pretty nice and toasty. 

 

We found the camping table, and sat on top of it, our feet planted on the sitting spaces attached to the wooden table. It was a clear night, the black sky splattered with bright, white stars and the moon in a crescent shape, almost like it was mimicking my scar. 

 

The table was obviously a four person table, so the diameter was quite large, but Lance and I were still sitting casually close to each other, our hips bumping into each other whenever any of us started talking, and moving around. Lance was shifting like a restless child, his legs shaking rapidly from his crossed legged state. I put my hand on his knee. 

 

“Please, you know I think that’s so annoying.” I chuckled, pinning his knee to stop shaking so much, but he just shook it even faster to bug me. 

 

We both grow quiet again. I was thinking about what almost happened between us in the locker room earlier today, and wondered if Lance was thinking about that, too. There was definitely some form of attraction between us, or else Lance would never have acted like he did earlier. It was basic science. But, Lance would probably roll his eyes at me if I started talking about science now. 

 

I couldn’t stop looking at Lance, who was leaning back on his hands to gaze up at the night sky, then tipping his head down to the side to look at me staring at him. Great, he caught me red faced. He smiled at me with his eyes closed, tilting his head to the side like an adorable small animal. 

 

“Hey...since we’re here and finally alone again.” Lance began, fidgeting with his hands until he lifted his butt to find something in his back pocket. 

 

_ Finally _ , was all I could make out from his words. Had he been wanting to get me alone all day? Could that have been the reason he was a pissy little child in the car today? He fished out a wad of papers from his back pocket, holding them out for me to take.

 

“What are these?” I took them, and counted ten small pieces of papers with scrawled on doodles and writing. I made out large purple letters that said:  _ Coupon for Keith _

 

“Another gift.” Lance smiled, “They’re coupons for birthday cake ice-cream, and they’ll all be my treat each time you use one.” He then winked, a wicked grin finding his peachy lips. 

 

“Can they be used for other things besides ice cream?” I asked nicely, waving them in his face. 

 

“Depends on what you want to use them for. You know, you might not need to give up free ice cream on something you can get for free no matter what.” He then winked at me, catching me off guard and causing my heart to go all  _ doki doki. _

 

_ Do I dare ask? _ My mind was spinning at the thought of doing what I wanted to do to him, but he was so hard to read at times. Sure, he could be super transparent, and read like an open book, but when it ever came to this, to fucking love. He was impossible to figure out. He was everywhere or he was nowhere. If I kissed him now, would it ruin what we have going on? The questions came piling in my mind creating the thought of finally kissing Lance into a full on panic attack. So I took a deep breath and shook all the thoughts of kissing Lance away, far, far, away to another galaxy.  

 

“What happens if I lose a coupon?” I say instead, feeling like the biggest coward on the planet, wishing I could hide in my red hood forever.  

 

“We both know that’s never going to happen with your organizational skills, and good memory. If you lose one though, you lose a slot at free ice cream.” Lance giggles, being completely right. Man, he knew me too well. 

 

I felt a pout coming on just for the fun of it. I wanted him to think I was cute, even if the mini panic attack in my head was still residing there for good measure. 

 

“Oh come on! I’d never do that to you. You’re too gullible, Keith. It’s a adorable….you’re adorable.”

 

“More adorable than Ruby hugging your knees, asking for  _ Sir Lance _ to give her a piggyback ride?”

 

“Okay, now that’s highly debatable.” He made a thinking face, punching me lightly on the shoulder. 

 

I chuckled at his punching me, holding the coupons up to his face. He smiled back, his face glowing up the whole world for me. Man, if I weren’t the biggest coward known to man, I’d grab his face with my hands and do it. Then do it a million times after that. 

 

“Thank you, Lance. It’s a great present.” Without even thinking about my small panic attack, I lean in to hug him for the present, but, I don’t think again when I do it, I just know that it was now or never being caught up in the moment and feeling somewhat courageous. When I’m close enough to his face, I decide to kiss him on the cheek. One small peck, and it’s over. Done. I was one step further, at least, and it felt good. 

 

Lance goes quiet, his ocean eyes tidal waving in the moonlight when he steers his gaze to me after I kiss him on the cheek. He had his hand planted on the spot where my mouth found his cheek, a look of satisfaction, I think, finding his golden face. The hand falls down to find one of my hands, threading our fingers together. Lance looks out at the horizon, still keeping quiet for a while longer. I wondered what he was thinking about. If what I did was okay, or if I violated our newly formed friendship. No matter what, I didn’t regret kissing him on the cheek. Everything about him was what gave me light, so I was hoping this, that this would be his light. 

 

The moon’s light shone brightly on Lance, if that were even possible. He shifted a bit besides me before he says, “Soo...homecoming this weekend. Is gonna be fun! My ma bought me a tux the other day when I told her I was going.” Lance finally opened his mouth, turning what happened a couple minutes ago into the ghost of the past, almost like it never happened. 

 

I only nodded at him, thinking about when we were at the ice cream parlor and I asked him if he wanted to go with me. As friends, not a date. Although, I wouldn’t mind calling it a date, I think. But, whenever I thought about us going together to homecoming as a date, my whole stomach decides to try and cough up my recent meal. I didn’t know weather to take that as a bad sign, or as one of being love sick. 

 

“I also got the perfect cologne for our date. I’m going to smell delicious, Mullet. So try not to bite me.” Lance suddenly said, the word date turning into block letters and pinning my chest. 

 

“It’s not a date, Lance!” I say with a super strict manner, letting it get to his head that we were going as friends, not anything romantic. 

 

I knew he was only kidding whenever he mentioned us going together is a date, given from his tone each time he said the word, and it bugged the hell out of me which is why I always felt like attacking him whenever the word date came out of his mouth. I was staring hard at him now, his face glowing with the moon’s white shine, a slick smile finding his moonlit face. 

 

“Keep telling yourself that, Mullet. It’s definitely a date.”

 

“It’s not.”

 

“It is.”

 

“Nope.” I shove him. 

 

“I say a big, fat, yes.” He shoves me back. 

 

We both end up laughing when I topple to the side of the table, regaining my composure by leaning on my gloved hands planted firmly on the table, “I’m looking forward to homecoming though. Shiro and I went shopping the other day, too, to buy my own suit.” I start, but Lance interrupts me.

 

“Awesome, you’re gonna have to owe me a dance in your new suit so that we can break it in. Mine too.” He waggles his brows, “And...since I’m your hot date for the night.” His brow waggling continues. 

 

“It’s not a date, we’re going as friends, Lance. Get that in your head.” I flick his nose, a smile spreading from corner to corner on my face. 

 

“Can we stop this fight and agree that it’s a friend-date then?” He asked, flicking me back, then smacking me in the face with the back of his hand like he always did when he teased me. 

 

“Fine. But, I won’t dance with you. I can’t dance to save my life, and if anyone catches me, I’ll become a laughing stalk. I finally feel like I’ve gotten some respect after the election. I will not lose my dignity by being seen as a dancing idiot in front of everyone.” My fists reach up to prove my point. This was a serious matter, and Lance needed to understand that. 

 

“No worries, Mullet. I can fix that.” He grabs my hand again, threading our fingers tightly like a french braid. The warmth coming from his hand was able to warm up my entire body in the cold October air. Nice. Cosy. Perfect. 

 

“I’d like to see you try.” I smirk at the moon, almost like I was asking the moon to do its magic and make it possible for me to slow dance with Lance some time in the future. If not during homecoming, then maybe Prom? Who knows. I close my eyes towards the moon, still wishing at it until I feel Lance’s head fall on my shoulder, a low hum leaving him. 

 

“Challenge accepted, Keith.” Lance smiled up at the moon as if he was ready to lasso it down to us. 


	31. Talk

So, something is happening with me. Fine, something's been happening to me for a while now, and it’s not exactly a bugging feeling, but it’s definitely been a prominent disturbance to my heart, my chest, let’s just go with my whole body. And it's been a feeling I never thought would appear during my last year of high school, but alas, here we are. 

 

Lance friggin' McClain. Honestly, that boy, he’ll become the death of me one day. All I’ve ever thought about the past two days is his goofy face, his lean, golden body, and that hauntingly beautiful scar stretching along on his muscular back. I’ve also thought about the way he talks to me, the way his hand fits perfectly entwined with mine, how his body warms me up just by sitting next to me, how well he knows me, and can read my face if I ever want something, like my favorite soda or just to listen to a song that has been on my mind lately. Seriously, it's kind of creepy, like he’ll be there on the spot with his Airpods at the ready and the song I’m currently obsessed with is playing.

 

His face has become a constant reminder of why my heart turns into a power drill going miles and miles per hour. I’ve tried countless times to deny these feelings, like a million times, and that has only been the past two days. Today though, the day we’re going to homecoming together. I have to admit it to myself, and damn is it hard. But, yeah, I like him, a lot. This attraction I’ve developed for him has gone further, it’s delved into that territory I’ve wanted to steer away from, but it’s been impossible every time his face locates my mind.

 

“Keith?”

 

I’m pulled out of my trance of _Steamy_ _McClain,_ when my gaze catches Adam waving a tan hand in my face, my eyes then narrowing to the spoon with cereal close to my mouth, aware that it was not in my mouth. I’ve been too focused on my stupid crush on my friend, that the cereal on the spoon had gone soggy, along with the rest of my breakfast resting on the table in front of me.

 

“Huh? Sup, Adam?” I tipped my head up from the soggy cereal, a grumpy look finding my face while forcing the spoon into my mouth, but I open it up with a disgusted grimace when the wet, soggy cereal touched the tip of my tongue.

 

“You alright? You looked like you were thinking long, and hard about something, or someone...You plotting your way out of homecoming, or?” Adam asked with a chipper voice, giving Ruby a banana to peel.

 

She grabbed the banana happily with her tiny hands reaching at it for dear life, and peeled it while making monkey noises, “Keith!?” She mirrored my grumpy face, her fat bottom lip sprouting out like an adorable monkey, “Where’s Lance!? I miss him. We need to watch _Moana_ next time, pleeeease?” Ruby's pout grew bigger at me while she stuffed her face when the banana was peeled. She ate bananas in a weird way by picking one piece off at a time then throwing it into her mouth.

 

“He might come over tomorrow or later this week. He’s been asking about you a lot, too, Rubes. I think he’ll love to watch _Moana_ with us, he knows _all_ of the songs.” I smiled happily at my younger sister, thanking all the gods that her Frozen phase was finally over, and that she had now switched over to watching _Moana_ as much as possible. It was a breath of fresh air since I could stand the songs way more, and,  _Moana_ was a better role model, in my opinion.

 

“Speaking of Lance, when is he coming by? You guys are going to the game first, right?” Adam asked, his glasses reflecting from the light in the kitchen, almost blinding me, so it was hard to tell if he was wearing his usual smug look whenever he mentioned a certain bronze boy around me.

 

Believable enough, none of my dads have ever had _the talk_ with me yet, and I was hoping, severely hoping I could avoid it as long as possible, but what came out of Adam’s mouth was something that didn’t need to spill out of him for many years to come, “Listen Keith, I know what kids do after homecoming parties, and prom, for that matter." His voice went serious, letting me know what was coming. I groaned, my brows knitting with dismay at him. He grinned back, "I think we should talk about…” He paused, probably dreading this as much as I have, but there was that smug face finding his features, “sexual matters…” He finally breathed out, forgetting that Ruby was sitting right next to us at the table.

 

“Gosh, Adam, not in front of a little kid!” I screeched at him, my hands covering Ruby's little ears, hoping my dramatic tantrum with Ruby sitting next to us would let me off the hook, but when my hands released her ears, he gestured for Ruby to go to the living room with the rest of her banana, mentioning that she could put on _Moana_ with the volume as loud as she wanted.

 

That did the trick as she sprinted off to the living room screaming _Moana!, Moana!_ T he air in the kitchen shifted and  Adam’s smile changed slightly and his eyes went from their warm hazel color to a serious glowing amber color. _No, please no._ Why did I need this talk? He knew I wasn’t sexually active. Hell, I haven't even had my first kiss yet, and I didn’t even like anyone, which I hoped he thought, not knowing about my real feelings for a gorgeous, wicked tan boy.

 

“That's better, we’re going to wait thirty years with her.” Adam joked. Or so I thought, his face was super serious when he said it.

 

“Listen Adam, I don’t know what you’re thinking, but it’s...okay. We don’t need this talk. I’m perfectly, not doing….that.” I cringed heavily at just mentioning how not sexually active I was to him.

 

“I believe you, Keith. But, we still need to discuss contraception from diseases if you were to do...that. It's important to be safe...you know, just in case.” He answered, wearing a smile to lighten up the awkward tension I was creating between us with my disgusted grimace, rolling my eyes in the process of trying to block my ears with something nearby, but no luck. 

 

“But, I don’t even like anyone! This is so unnecessary, Adam!” I tried to force out, feeling my throat tightening from knowing it was the biggest lie I could ever tell my father.

 

“We both know that’s not true at all, Keith Jonathan Kogane.." My eyes grew wide at him using my full name. "It’s written all over your face whenever you’re with him! I see it at school, at home, when he picks you up every morning. Even when Ruby mentions him, you have the face of someone who is hopelessly in love.” Adam’s warm smile catches me, making it highly contagious as I smile back thinking about the ocean, and a warm summer breeze.

 

Well, he got me, I thought, rolling my eyes as my smile still stayed spread, “Fine, yeah, okay I like him...You're pushing it too far with the hopelessly in love crap." I said, hoping he doesn't press the matter further as I continue, looking at him sternly with a serious face now, "But...it’s unrequited so don’t worry about it.” I grab the milk, making a new bowl of fresh, non-soggy cereal, a new angry glare finding my face when the word unrequited caught my voice feeling like a thousand bees stinging my throat. 

 

“Are you serious? Did you confess to him, Keith!? Did he turn you down, but you guys are each other’s dates for homecoming!” Adam sounded flabbergasted, like he was my girlfriend and I told him everything, and this certain tea hadn’t been spilled yet for him.

 

I took a large bite of my cereal, letting the crunching noises take over for a minute before I said, “Holy crap, you are nosy....He didn't turn me down because there’s no use in confessing to him. We’re only friends, he's made it pretty clear, Adam. Also, haven’t you seen how he looks at Ezor. It’s written all over his stupid face how much he wants her. He doesn’t look at me like that…And it's not a date. Why can't people get that screwed in their brains..” I muttered angrily, steering my gaze away from my father and took a new bite of cereal in frustration.

 

Adam stays quiet to let me think a bit more, his fatherly instincts on their way to finding him. More waiting, it was starting to get on my nerves that he wouldn’t let this matter be put to rest. As he kept on thinking, his head tilting slightly to the side, I threw the spoon in the bowl loudly when I polished my breakfast clean. His gaze caught mine when he heard the plunk of the spoon hitting my bowl. “How do I make it stop?” I asked him when our eyes met.

 

He shot up a light brown, thick eyebrow, taking off his glasses to clean them not sure what I meant with my question, “Stop what, Keith?” He asked wearing a worried look when his tan face tipped up from cleaning his glasses.   

 

It bugged me that he didn't take the hint, “Liking him….how do I stop it?” I muttered quietly, my fingers rapping the table as confusion boiled my gut. 

 

His glasses found his nose, his hazel eyes not showing any sympathy to my question, “In time it might fade away, but, the way you two stick together, only time will tell. Since you haven't even tried confessing I wouldn't recommend to force the feeling away Keith, that’ll only break you." A ghost of smile catches his face. "I think you should confess to Lance, Keith, it’ll do the both of you some good. Your pining would be over, and you guys can figure out from there if you’re going to continue as friends, or maybe...something more.” He smiled widely at that last suggestion, and it made a tugging feeling in my heart.

 

When Adam said the words _something more_ , I felt my heart skip a beat, wanting nothing else on this planet than to have that _something more_ with Lance, but I knew they were unattainable, “No, I can't confess...I don’t even know if he likes guys, Adam….and if I confess and he says he likes me back, what if it's only to experiment? Like I’m only worth his time for that...” My plead became more and more prominent, if Adam had been a girlfriend listening to all this gossip, he’d be so sick of me and my pining. Good thing he was my dad, it was his job to listen, and help me, even though I knew how stubborn I was being.  

 

Adam shook his head, laughing, actually laughing at me, “Oh man, Keith. You truly are blindsided. It’s so obvious how much you mean to him. The roller rink, the birthday cake, all of that was his idea. He wanted to give you the best birthday ever. He even asked Shiro and I if it was okay for him to steal you the whole day, if we wouldn’t mind not seeing you on your birthday because he wanted to spend it with you. If he doesn’t love you as more than a friend, he'll still love you as a friend, maybe even a best friend. You’re all he ever talks about when he stops by the office at school. Wanting to know how you’re doing, you know, about your anxiety...He tries to fish for details about your past because he wants to know how much you’re really hurting so that he can make you feel better, Keith. Don’t tell me that boy doesn’t feel anything for you.” He grinned, planting his hand hard on the table for me to focus on what he was telling me. 

 

“He does that? Stop by your office...to talk about me?” I asked in disbelief, my brows furrowing at what I had just learned.

 

Adam nodded, a gentle smile curling on his face, “Yes. Now....no more stalling, we _need_ to have this talk, Keith." He took a sip of his coffee before he said, "To keep it short and simple, use protection no matter what, even if it is with a guy, you never know what illnesses can occur, even if you're both virgins. Use lube so that it doesn’t hurt, because I promise you, it will hurt. Definitely the first time...it'll hurt like a…” Adam stopped, turning towards the living and hears a song from _Moana_ playing loudly from the living room before he turned back to face me, his finger wiggling to let me inch closer when he said, “ like a bitch.” He finished, crossing his foot over his other leg, arms crossed.

 

“Fiiine, okay, got it, are we done!?” I ask pleadingly, his mention of how much sex with guys hurt burning into one of the archives in my brain. He's definitely won most embarrassing dad of the year. 

 

“Yes. I’m sure my words got through to you. Also, I see Lance’s car outside the window. Is Pidge and Hunk tagging along?” He shifted back to casual talk, like our talk about the birds and the bees became a figment of the past.

 

I get up from the table, remembering where I was and that I was dressed and ready for the game. A red, long sleeved jersey with the number 13 in large black print, and my favorite black skinny jeans. “Nah, Pidge doesn’t like sports unless wheels are involved, or calculated sports like chess or cards. Hunk gets motion sickness just by watching the players run on the field. Too bad, since he would had made a fine linebacker. But he's with Shay until the dance starts.” I smiled, making my way to the front door to find my boots and jacket and black scarf.

 

“Well then, looks like you and Lance get some alone time before the dance. You guys were coming back here to get dress if I remember correctly.” Adam said, standing in the hall, his arms still crossed, lost in thought as his gaze directed to Ruby dancing to _Moana_ with Kosmo at her heels. 

 

“Yep, Lance doesn’t know anything about football, but he wanted to check out the cheerleaders…soo, not so much alone.” I said grumpily, waering a lazy look, thinking: _typical Lance_. “But, we’ll come back here to change into our suits then meet Pidge and Hunk at the dance. You’re going too as a chaperone, right?” I asked him back, eyeing him to let him know he would have to back off when we’re at the dance, and not be a _dad_.

 

I opened the door and caught a wave of blue-green eyes in the driver's seat of a blue Ford fiesta, his bright smile lighting up the already lit up day, “Yeah, I’m chaperoning, Shiro insisted on doing it, but I swooped in to save the night for you." He winked, "Don’t worry, I won’t embarrass you at your first school dance, but I’m gonna need to take pics for Shiro, promise me that’ll be fine, then I’ll be off your back.” Adam patted me on the shoulder, then waved at Lance.

 

“Remember our talk, Keith. Ehrm, not the _talk_ , talk, but the one where I think you should tell him the truth…” Adam said, standing behind me from the door, his voice sounding like the devil on someone's shoulder causing a ruckus in my chest. Confessing to Lance will be the last thing I do, I thought. 

 

I nodded once, then made my way to Lance’s blue Ford Fiesta, hoping Adam would stop prying me with his delusional accusations. When I got in the car, my heart rate sped up as usual, taking in the golden delinquent and the conversation I recently had with my dad, dread finding my face, along with the unwanted heat that always wounded up touching my cheeks. Lance's smiled beamed at me when I closed the door, and turn my gaze to him. 

 

“Hey, Mullet! Ready for the game!?” Lance ignited the car, turning on the seat warmer for me, knowing how quickly I get cold.

 

“Thanks, yeah, I’m pumped!” I said back finding the AUX cord to put on our current playlist.

 

The roads had gotten slippery since my birthday two days ago. With Halloween right around the corner, the air had gotten even more crispier and November wanting to be welcomed really soon. Lance was bobbing his head to the tune on the stereo, paying close attention to the road. I could see it on his face how much he wanted to make a daring hard swerve whenever a nice turn came, but he resisted wanting to keep us alive a bit longer.

 

“Hey Lance, you don’t even like football, why are you tagging along?” I asked him, glancing through the window as red, orange and yellow leaves were smacking his window as he drove. I was hoping his answer wouldn't be ogling the hot cheerleaders, trying to fish for any hints if he wanted to tag along for my benefit, and not his own. 

 

“Yeah, so? I want to be with you, Mullet. I know I don’t care for sports, but if you love it, then that’s good enough for me.” He chanced a look at me to give me a toothy smile making me want to stomp my foot on the brakes and drag his face to mine already, but my cheeks were heating like crazy at the thought, wishing for the wind outside to cool them down. 

 

It was the answer I wanted, which was unexpected. “Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool.” I kept saying the word over and over, my nerves taking over my voice until I heard Lance make a single loud laugh.

 

“Hah! Classic Jake Peralta, love it.” He beamed, then dared a sliced swerve making me wish we had actually died, and I didn’t need to have these feelings for him inside me anymore.


	32. Cheerleaders

You know what I hated more than soggy cereal, cold weather, bad grades, unorganized desks or untidy rooms?  _ Cheerleaders. Fuck cheerleaders. _ With their fake smiles, fake underwear they called spanks, disgusting word in my opinion, their stupid cheers and that their job was to cheer for the football team and be ogled on by creepy older men. 

 

Not only that, what made me hate them even more, was that Ezor was a cheerleader and right in Lance’s field of vision when we finally got our snacks and found a place to sit on the bleachers. He was looking right at her, his face going all gooey when she waved a small hand at him, her smile turning into one from fake smiles to pure lusting seduction. I wanted to go all  _ Dexter _ on her the moment she laid those rainbow eyes on Lance. 

 

There wasn’t anything I could do except pay attention to the game, and ignore my brunet friend sitting next to me making sex eyes at rainbow girl. Was I jealous? Hell yeah I was, but I wasn't going to let him know that. I knew he liked Ezor, and if he didn’t like me the way I liked him then there wasn’t much for me to do unless I wanted to screw up our friendship. So I bit my tongue and let them have their little two way communication through lusting looks and mouthing words of seduction to each other. 

 

After a while, their communicative skills became too much for me, and I wounded up punching my brunet friend hard on the arm, “Cut it out, Lance. Your googley eyes at Ezor is distracting me from the game.” I directed a gloved hand towards the field, a touch-down being made by our team. 

 

Everyone on the bleachers rose to clap and cheer. Lance and I stayed seated looking at each other with a lighting bolt zapping between us. When the audience, students and parents of the players and cheerleaders, I would guess, sat back down, Lance threw some popcorn in his mouth, then took a large gulp of his soda before he opened his big mouth, “You knew I didn’t like football, I need something to occupy myself with while you enjoy the game.” He said, waggling his eyebrows at the cheerleaders now doing a formational cheer and throwing flyers in the air. 

 

“Well, I could have commented on what’s happening in the game if you don’t understand the game instead of looking at  _ them _ .” I spat the word in disgust revealing how much I really hated cheerleaders, or a certain cheerleader, and I think Lance was sensing my steaming jealousy, I had to tone it down a bit so that it wouldn’t be too obvious. 

 

“Fine. Why don’t you fill me in on the game, then keep on commenting until the game’s over. I promise I won’t look at Ezor...erhm...the cheerleaders….ugh, no one. I’ll only look at the players, or look at you, if you prefer that.” He bumped an elbow at my side, a smile finally making its way to my face, one I hadn’t been able to make ever since the game started and it was half-time.  _ Lucky me _ .  

 

“Looks like you’re in luck, McClain. It’s half-time the cheerleaders take over for a good twenty minutes. I think I’m going to get more refreshments.” I started to stand up, but felt Lance standing up next to me, craning my neck towards him catching a bright blue sea pulling me in. 

 

“I’ll go with you, Mullet.” He smiled warmly at me, the cold in the air turning into a furnace in my head. 

 

We made it to the stand with refreshments, a long line already made when half-time started. Lance and I stood in line, both our hands in our jacket pockets looking around. My black scarf was unwrapped around my neck, but Lance was already on it like a helpful mother, but I wanted to look at it as a helpful boyfriend.

 

“Here.” He grabbed my scarf and started twirling it around my neck, the touch of his hand finding my neck causing a ripple of warmth to skip down, down, down my spine. 

 

I hid my nose in the scarf, a wide smile being made on my face that he couldn’t see, but I bet my eyes told him I was happy he decided to join me instead of gawking at the cheerleaders. Still, it really did annoy me that he made those eyes at Ezor, I felt selfish, and wished those blue eyes had looked at me like that. 

 

“If you like Ezor so much…” I began, my voice muffled behind the scarf, Lance’s attention turning to me when I started talking. He tilted his head at what I was on about, “Why didn’t you ask her out to homecoming? I wouldn’t have mind…” Except I would have mind. Probably so much that I wouldn’t go to the dance, and instead stayed in bed wallowing in my woes about a bronze delinquent. 

 

“Because I know it would make you mad. You asked me first. I need to respect that. Besides, I don’t like Ezor like that.” He winked a blue-green eye at me. 

 

“Wait. What are you talking about? It’s obvious how much you want her.” I pointed out, remembering all of the stupid looks they gave each other. How much Ezor touches Lance’s arms, and every time we hang with Acxa, she grabs hold of Lance’s body and clings to him like a love sick girlfriend. It sickened me every time. 

 

“I’ll let her know it’s working." He mumbled. "Don’t worry, Keith. She doesn’t like me like that either. We only kid around.” He said before he started ordering our refreshments. 

 

The hell did he mean by that? Kid around, the hell does that mean? Were those two plotting something. Was her clinging a way to make someone jealous? Who? Acxa? Maybe Ezor liked Acxa, she’s a cheerleader, too, so maybe if she sees Lance and her flirt all the time she’ll get pissed off and jealous. 

 

“I get it, Lance." I said happily, finally understanding that they were making Acxa jealous, or so I would like to think. "Come on, we don’t wanna lose our seats. I have a lot of game to explain to you before second half starts.” I tugged on his blue bomber jacket, thinking about how he looked really good in it. 

 

During second half, Lance was really into the game. Cheering when he was supposed to cheer, throwing out punches, rooting for our team. It was fun to watch him be so invested in something I liked. But then again, he was always invested in the things I liked or felt passionate about. He was truly always there for me, even when I didn’t know about it. Like with what Adam told me about him visiting Adam’s office to talk about me. 

 

The game finished and our team won. That would mean the dance was going to be even more lively since the team will be in high spirits. Ryan will be dancing all night since he’s the team’s quarterback, and led the team to victory. My body was heating up with a pleasant feeling, a feeling that made me look forward to tonight’s dance. Something I never thought would be possible, if I thought back to junior year or the years before then when I always stayed at home with Shiro and Ruby whenever a dance was happening at school. 

 

“Lance! Keith! Down here!!!!” We heard Ezor screaming from the bottom of the bleachers, waving with Acxa next to her who was looking all bored with her arms crossed and chewing on some bubblegum. 

 

“It’d be rude to not say hi…” Lance tugged on my leather jacket to pull me down the stands with him to go say hi to the one person I disliked. 

 

“Hey, Chica!” Lance hugged Ezor, then lifted her up from the ground with her feet kicking wildly in the air. They looked like a newlywed couple, and it made me sick to my stomach. 

 

“Don’t pay much attention to them, Keith. They’re just good friends, they went to middle school together.” Acxa suddenly informed me. 

 

I was still giving the two of them a death glare hoping laser beams would shoot from my eyes, but Acxa’s words found my hearing, “Wait, what!? They’re friends, like really good friends?” I said with an incredulous tone, like the information was too good to be true. 

 

Acxa was laughing at me taking in my shocked state at my sudden glaring at the pair who were now giving each other noogies like old friends do. Why did this make me even more jealous? There wasn’t time to let the new information sink in when Ryan and James together with Carol and Lacey on their trail found us. 

 

“Hey you guys! Awesome, you saw the game.” Ryan pulled me in under his arm, giving me his own playful noogie. 

 

“Hah, yeah. You were awesome, Kinkade! Like always though. What’s GP gonna do without their star player when we graduate.” I said mid noogie, finally being released from his strong grasp. 

 

When Ryan let go of me, but still kept me under his shoulder, I felt drowned by a raging tidal wave making its way at me. Lance had let go of Ezor and stomped, literally stomped his way over to Ryan, Acxa and I. When he made it next to me, his hand found the crown of my head and he started ruffling it almost like he was taking possession of my hair, directing an angry glare at Ryan. 

 

“Lance! Would you knock it off, Ryan messed it up enough.” I teased him while looking at Ryan, his white smile blinding me. 

 

I caught Lance’s face again, but now his smile had been completely wiped off his face. Was he jealous? The hell, he had Ezor! “So, what are you guys doing now? Where are you getting ready for the dance?” James interjected, cutting the heated tension Lance and I were building up with our staring contest of throwing knives, but it was a lost match, Lance and I weren't having it. 

 

“Acxa and I are going to my place! Carol and Lacey can come too!” Ezor shouted happily like the chipper, little, conniving cheerleader she was. 

 

“Sweet! We’ll be there.” Lacey clapped her hands, hugging Ezor. 

 

“Lance, Keith? Wanna come to my place? James sucks at tying ties...” Ryan asked us, his beaming face blinding both Lance and I that we had to look away then look at each other trying to figure out if we wanted to tag along or get ready at my place like we originally had planned. 

 

“It’s up to you, Mullet.” Lance said in a bored tone which honestly made me want to go to Ryan just to get back at his stupid ass for flirting with Ezor all night and not telling me they were long time friends. 

 

I ignored him when I put my gloved hands back in my leather jacket to turn around all cool and say, “Sure. we can get ready at your place. Lance doesn't seem to mind.” I smirked at Ryan hoping Lance was making an incredulous look behind me. Ryan cocked a black eyebrow, but his eyes were past my face and definitely staring at Lance’s annoyed face behind me. 

 

“Sweet, be at my place in an hour. I’ll get my mom to make hot pockets for us.” He smiled broadly, tapping James on the shoulder.

 

“Fuck yeah! I love hot pockets!” James shouted following Ryan to the parking lot. 

 

The girls waved their goodbyes shouting that they’d see us at the dance. Lance was looking down at the ground his foot kicking wildly at it, the tip of his shoe digging an angry hole. When his face tipped up, the green specks in his eyes were like flickers from a roaring fire. He was not happy. But why? He was all over the place, he should be happy we’re going to Ryan’s place and being social, he even told me from day one that I was an anti-social nobody and here we are going to a friend’s place to get ready for a school dance! He should be thrilled, but the look on his face told me otherwise. 

 

“What’s with the look, Lance? Shouldn’t you be thrilled we’re going to a friend’s house and not getting ready at my place with my dads and Ruby. We’re seniors, I’m eighteen, you’ll be eighteen next year, we need to hang with people our age, right?” I tried to explain, but he ignored every word I said and walked past me, his hands planted in his pockets, an angry look washing all over his tan face. 

 

“Come on, we gotta get our stuff if we’re gonna meet at your boyfriend’s in an hour.” He mocked the word boyfriend in my face like he was jealous. 

 

“Ryan’s not my boyfriend, Lance! The hell!” I grabbed his shoulder and pulled him around to look at me. 

 

When he faced me, his eyes were staring to the side, a lower lip pout, one I recognized from Ruby's pouts, forming on his face. I couldn't do anything but smile at him, rolling my steel eyes at his childish behavior. “Lance...I’m going to the dance with  _ you _ . Ryan and I are just friends.” I tried to get it through his thick head, but he still looked mad. 

 

“But you used to have a crush on him, right? I remember Adam told me once.” He said all moodily, kicking the dirt again. 

 

“During one of your talks behind my back?” I spat, finally letting him know that I knew and how I felt about that. 

 

“Fuck, did he tell you?” His thin brows furrowed but they made his face look sad, I felt my heart starting to slightly crack. 

 

“Yes, he told me! He’s my dad, Lance. If you were worried about me, you could have just found me and talked with me. We’re friends, aren’t we?” I planted a gloved hand on his shoulder, wishing I could thread our fingers instead, or caress his cheek in a loving manner to let him know that the only person who means something to me was him. 

 

“Yeah, of course were friends. You’re one of my closest friends, I don’t remember my life before I met you.” He smiled, but his eyes were still sad. 

 

“I have no feelings for Ryan whatsoever. He’s just a friend, like you and me.” I reassured him, but his face went dark for a moment before it suddenly lit up into a bright smile and closed eyes. 

 

“Great. Come on, we got some turns to slide.” He threw his car keys up in the air, catching them on the way to the parking lot. 


	33. Dance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I have been dragging this story a loooooot. But I hope you guys don't leave me..I promise we'll get there. Maybe in this chapter, maybe not. I think the build up is the best part. ;)

“Fuck, James! Do you suck at tying ties, man. Yo, Keith come get this one, I know Shiro taught you.” Ryan laughed wholeheartedly, waving a dark brown hand at me to come over and tie his black tie.

 

“Sure, let me just finish up Lance’s bowtie.” I yelled back while tying Lance’s dark blue bowtie. He went with a dark blue suit and a white shirt. He looked, what do the British say? Smashing. Fuck, I’d smash, I thought when I took in his long legs, and firm upper body wearing the marine colored jacket. Have I ever said that suits were made for Lance McClain? Well, I’m saying it now.

 

I was still in my jersey and skinny jeans while Lance, Ryan and James were pretty much ready to jam out to some tunes in their smashing looking suits. Lance barely thanked me for tying his bowtie, but didn’t say much more when he made his way to the bathroom to fix his hair.

 

James followed Lance into the bathroom to fix his own hair and guaranteed to steal some of Lance’s high-end hair products. Lance took his cosmetology seriously, no wonder he always glowed. My hands found Ryan’s tie, fiddling with different loops until it looked perfect against his chest. He was wearing an all black tux with a white shirt underneath as well. He looked slick, like a model for men’s suits. He could have been Idris Elba’s long lost son.

 

“So, Keith.” Ryan started, looking at his door as if anyone was coming in, “You’re like into Lance, right?” He asked, and my face must have turned into the sunset since he was laughing at me now.

 

“I...No! No...nooo..not like that.” I tried to say, but it was all lies, and I’m sure he could tell. I huffed out a sharp breath. “Yeah, seems like everyone is catching on except for the guy himself. But, don’t tell him, please. He doesn’t like me like that, and I want to keep our friendship like it is. I can’t lose him. He’s important to me.” I told Ryan, and he nodded in understanding.

 

“You never know, maybe you’re the delusional one trying to tell yourself he doesn't like you. You don’t see how he looks at you, do you?” He said with a happy grin, but I couldn’t answer him when James and Lance spilled in smelling like expensive perfume and their hair all fixed.

 

I had to rush out of the room and find the bathroom to get ready, and to hide my red complexion when I saw how amazing Lance looked with his hair slicked to the side. I take back saying Ryan looked like a model and give the prize to Lance McClain, because man, I wanted that man so bad it hurt.

 

My suit was a burgundy color, and I wanted to pair it with a vest underneath in the same color and a white shirt under the vest. I had a skinny dark gray tie to go along with the rest of the suit. I know I suit, no pun intended, red tones, and a darker red color, sort of like a red wine color would look great on me. I hoped Lance would like me in this suit since I thought about him when Shiro and I picked it out.

 

Once the suit was on, I had to fix my long, black hair. I had let it grow out since Lance and I started being with each other, and it was resting past my shoulders now. There was a bottle of gel on the sink and I grabbed it then took a glob and slicked my thick bangs back by threading my fingers through the thickness of my hair.

 

One of Lance’s expensive colognes was resting next to his other products, remembering on my birthday that he had bought a new perfume for today. I took the cologne and sprayed a spritz to my neck, then to my wrists hoping I smelled nice like him. I was mid brushing my teeth when the door opened and I was caught by a bright blue ocean, and a blinding light.

 

“Fuck me.” I heard whispered behind me, but the water was running so it could have been, _trust me_ I heard so I wasn’t going to think more on that.

 

“Lance, hey…” I felt sheepish when he came in looking all smashing, dashing and like someone I wanted to hit on right then and there if I had the guts, which we all knew I didn’t. “Here, grab your stuff they must be expensive, huh?” My arms became full of products, handing them to Lance before we made our way back to Ryan’s room.

 

“Everyone ready to party?” Ryan cheered, then made a look at James who was stuffing his face with the rest of the hot pockets.

 

“What, they’re fucking delicious, and who knows if there’ll be food there.” He mumbled with his mouth full.

 

On the way to the dance, Lance had turned on a bunch of dance music to hype us up. Pidge and Hunk would meet us at the dance. I was wondering what Pidge went for when it came to her outfit for the dance. I remember she had a hard time deciding to go for a dress or a suit. I hoped she went for a suit since I knew that would be more her sense of style.

 

“Why was Hunk busy today?” Lance asked me, paying attention to the road. Ryan and James were having their own conversation in the back not catching on to our discussion.

 

“He was with Shay all day.” I smiled, happy for my friend to have a girlfriend. They were adorable together. Shay went to an all girls school and could only visit Hunk on the weekends.

 

“Damn, big guy’s lucky snagging himself a girlfriend.” Lance complained, singing to the lyrics of the song playing to keep his jealousy cool.

 

“Sure is.” I said, feeling a tinge of my own hot jealousy for our large friend.

 

“Oh well, at least we have a each other.” Lance then said smiling to the road.

 

“How so?” I asked, leaning close to the dashboard, giving him a curious look, not quite sure what he implied by that statement.

 

I noticed his tan hands gripping the wheel, a sluggish expression washing over his bronze face. “I...ah..I dunno...I guess I’ll let you be the judge of that, Kitten.” Lance replied using his nickname for me.

 

Lance made another hard swerve, Ryan and James making whooping noises in the back seat by Lance’s drifting skills making me forget about his weird choice of words a moment ago. The school came into our field of vision after Lance’s turn of death, and lights were already flashing from the gym where the dance was being held.

 

“Awww yeah, I am pumped! The dance floor awaits. Let’s do this!” Ryan opened the door and made his way to the gym with James on his tow, and Lance and I trailing behind them.

 

No wonder Ryan was fired up, he was nominated for Homecoming king along with our beloved still current president, Loturd. My money was on Ryan winning since Lotor had absolutely no need for more wins this year. Him beating my ass this term should be enough, right?

 

I spotted Adam’s car on the way to the gym. He had to take some pics of me tonight so I’ll find him first then try to avoid the dance floor as much as possible. While I made a plan in my head, I felt a hand threading with my fingers. I looked down and spotted a bronze hand in my grasp then smiled, but quickly pulled away when we made it to the ticket booth to show Amy our pre-bought tickets.

 

“Keith, Lance! So nice to see you two here! Adam’s inside, he’ll be thrilled to see how nice you both look.” She smiled pleasantly, stamping our hands after she took our tickets.

 

“And you’re looking gorgeous as always Ames.” Lance winked, but I elbowed him to shut up.

 

“What, you jealous, Kitten?” I felt him leaning into me, his warm breath tickling my ear. “You already know how I think about you in that suit.” He hummed a noise he would make after eating a spoon of birthday cake ice cream, causing my body to heat up like a wild flame that needed taming.

 

“Shut up, let’s go find the others.” I looked away in embarrassment, avoiding his smug face, and Amy’s chuckling below us.

 

Pidge and Hunk were already on the dance floor, when we arrived inside the gym. Colored lights were flickering on the floor, and the walls with a large colorful disco ball on the ceiling lighting up the whole gym with reflections of squares in different colors. The place looked awesome, it was like the gym came straight out of a high school movie with teenagers dancing crazy, a DJ booth on the stage, and instruments ready for a band to play later. Refreshments and appetizers were placed on a long table on the side and standing by said table was our beloved Principal West.  

 

“Well, well, well, look who the cat dragged in. Daddy Principal looking all snazzy in a suit.” Lance caught Adam in a bear hug, then I gave him a hug when they let go.

 

He was wearing a dark brown suit that made him look like the godfather of some powerful gang. Shiro must have given him a hard time leaving the house looking like that. I smiled at the thought of them and their perfect relationship. I wished I could end up with a relationship like theirs, I thought, looking at Lance talking to Adam.

 

“You guys look great! I felt so relieved when you said you guys were getting ready at Ryan’s place, Ruby was a nightmare before bedtime, and Shiro was not having it. You guys would have had a miserable time getting ready at home.” He exhaled miserably, probably thinking about a small monstrous child and then laughing loudly glad he left Shiro with their little monster.

 

Pidge and Hunk found their way out from the dance floor. I felt two hands on my shoulders, turning around to find Hunk wearing a bright yellow suit, and Pidge wearing a dark green suit. It made me happy she went for a suit. She looked great in it, and I could tell from her happy expression that she felt more comfortable wearing that instead of a dress.

 

“Fucking finally! You guys look great! Now let’s go dancing.” Pidge was on her way back to the dance floor with Hunk on her trail again. Hunk had grabbed Lance’s hand to pull him to the dancefloor, but I shook my head rapidly firmly deciding to stay put, pointing at Adam that I was going to talk to him while they danced.

 

Lance gave me a glare, mouthing the words _just you wait_ , then followed Pidge and Hunk to the sea of dancing teenagers. “You should go with them, Keith. Pidge and Hunk have been here for awhile dancing their hearts out. I didn’t know the big guy had it in him, but damn, dude can dance.” Adam took a gulp of the purple colored punch, then winced, “Why do I even bother?” He grabbed the bowl, giving me an apologetic stare. “I need to empty this and find more punch that does not taste like vodka. Go to your friends, Keith. I’ll see you when they crown the king and queen. Have fun, okay.” He practically commanded me with a stern voice through the loud music.

 

When Adam left with the punch bowl, I found my friends dancing in the crowd, having a great time. They were all too busy going against each other, seeing who had the best dance moves. Pidge was doing a dance from _Fortnite_ looking a total dork. Okay, scratch that, Hunk was looking like a dork doing the _fishing rod_ and _the hammer_.

 

Lance, on the other hand, his dancing moves were amazing. Was it his Latino lineage coming through because he had hips made for dancing, swaying all smoothly from side to side, hands in the air like he didn’t care. The wave of a blue ocean caught me staring at him dancing, a happy, toothy smile finding his face as he continued bumping his hips left and right, blue eyes magnetizing me to him, but the pull wasn’t working on me. My legs felt glued to the already sticky gym floor, feeling too terrified to move towards the sea that was trying desperately to pull me in. I was sand, and he was the ocean, but the wind was blowing me away, more and more.  

 

Instead, I broke our gaze and left the gym in a fleeting motion, blocking the loud music and the chatter of students, hating myself for being a pathetic coward. I was set on finding a room we both knew about and was usually always open. My hand grabbed on to the handle hoping it was unlocked. I turned, and the door opened, “Bingpot.” I whispered to myself when the door to the music room was unlocked. I switched on the dimmed lights, closing the door and leaning on the piano listening to the music coming from the gym to calm my cowardice.

 

The music was so loud it could be heard as well in the music room like being in the gym with the rest of the school. My anxiety was taking over my pulse, and my armpits, so being in my own solitude was luckily helping.

 

While listening to the music, I felt a certain calmness cooling me down and my body started swaying on its own, taking in the up-beat rhythm to the music. My mind was blank while I danced in my lonesome, not having a care in the world for once. All I could think about was the way Lance moved his body while dancing and I tried imitating him to the beat of the music playing, some kind of BTS song I think, but the music had a nice tune to dance to.

 

With my eyes closed, and my body swaying on its own to the music, I hadn’t noticed anyone come into the room when I suddenly felt two hands gripping my hips swaying me even more than I originally was doing. My body went rigid at the sudden touch of another person’s hands on my body, but when my eyes opened up, I caught green specks floating in deep hues of blue, and a dazzling smile warming my heart and my soul.

 

“Lance…” I smiled his name, turning around to look at him.

 

“Hey you. Dancing here all on your lonesome? Your body looked like it needed a partner.” He cooed at me, using a voice I’ve only heard him use with Ezor.

 

I felt my cheeks heat up at his tone of voice. The song _Patience_ by Charlie Puth, one of my faves, turned on and my hands found their place behind Lance’s neck, all on their own, my mind still going blank. As my hands twined behind his warm neck, his hands gripped around my hips closing the gap between our bodies, pulling my face close to his chest.

 

As we slow-danced to the song, I placed my head gently on his shoulder smiling warmly to myself while singing the lyrics. “I thought you couldn't dance to save you life, Mullet. But, look at this. You’re dancing perfectly fine, your life still your own.” I felt lance’s lips grazing my ear as he tried to talk to me through the music.

 

I hummed in his grasp, my own voice tickling his ear. “Guess you’re a good teacher.” My voice went silky smooth, loving the moment we were having alone in the music room, thanking the gods that I got to dance like this with Lance McClain.

“I have my ways, Mullet.” He kissed my cheek, feeling the moment, and a blooming warmth spread throughout my body, hoping it was finally time.

 

The song ended, but we still held on to each other still dancing when the next song quickly came on, still a slow dance song and it made me happy that we could still be like this for a few more minutes. His hands rubbed my back, his firm grip on my hips trying to pull me even closer, but it wasn’t possible, we were as close as can be, if we got  even closer our souls might touch.

 

Curiosity washed over me while we dance, “How did you find me, Lance?” I whispered in his ear, hearing a hum leave his throat, feeling his lovely smile in my hair.

 

“You’re my best friend, Keith Jonathan Kogane. I always know where to find you.” He said, one of his hands cupping my cheek to take a look at my smiling face.

 

Lance’s sparkling blue eyes pinned me to him, I couldn’t look away at his beautiful face, “Damn, you’re so hot...erhm...I mean..your cheek is really hot. You coming down with a fever, Mullet?” He chuckled, his hand still rested on my cheek, being as nervous as I felt at this moment.  

 

I was quiet, listening to the song playing while taking in all of the shapes that made Lance, Lance. Amazing, wonderful, stupid, cocky, beautiful. I felt like I had drunk ten cups of the punch Adam was pouring in the drain when I thought about the boy in front of me.

 

“Keith?” I heard my name on his lips, a wave of an ocean finally catching me from the shore.

 

“Yes, Lance?” I swallowed, the memory of the locker room coming back hoping we could finally finish what we started in there.

 

“Do you trust me?” He asked, a wicked grin finding his golden face, a new song playing in the background, his thumb stroking my cheekbone causing a nauseating flutter of million butterflies in my stomach.

 

“Isn’t that a line from _Aladdin_?” I said in a bored voice, giving him an incredulous look as he chuckled lightly.

 

“What? It’s your favorite Disney movie, right? I thought that would be romantic as hell.” He smiled, and I couldn’t take it anymore when I grabbed his face with my hands ready to pull his lips to mine.

 

Just as we felt the tips of our lips touch, we both stepped back from each other as a loud banging on the door sounded. “You gotta be fucking kidding me...” I screeched low while glaring at the banging door, hoping Lance hadn’t heard me.

  


We opened the door, and found no one on the other side. Was it all in our heads? Could it have been sign that I wasn’t supposed to kiss Lance? Lance was just as confused as I was when he looked from one side outside the door and to the other side.

 

He shrugged his shoulders at me. “Come on, I think they’re going to announce Homecoming king and queen. I wanna see Loturd’s face when he doesn’t win!”

 

I felt Lance tug my sleeve and drag me back to the gym. As I was being pulled back to reality, I made a look that could have easily killed everyone in the room, thinking I had to be unluckiest person alive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooorrrryyyyy. I promise soooooon!!!


	34. Steam

Almost a week had passed since the dance, and the ghost of Lance and my’s lips barely touching at Homecoming has become a distant memory. One that made me want to stab someone with my fork. As I eyed my lunch with scorching eyes, I thought it was looking as appetizing as troll boogers from _Harry Potter_. Granted, it was Soggy Taco Thursday as the gang and I liked to call it, and since I was still hung up on my cowardice from the dance, my lunch was looking soggier than usual.

 

“Come on, man. You’ve hardly touched your food. Something’s clearly been bothering you all week...Was it the dance? Was it really that boring? You and Lance were gone for awhile, what happened between the two of you?” Pidge asked, not stopping once to breathe while she interrogated me.

 

She had been trying to pry out any useful information ever since the dance, but with no luck. Lance and I, we’ve been like we’ve always been, like nothing has changed between us since that night. But still, there has been a certain barrier set between us ever since our slow dance, and our almost, almost kiss. We haven’t hugged since then. He hasn’t, not once, tried to reach for my hand to thread our fingers. He’s been busy all week after school, and whenever I tried to ask why he’s been so busy, he’ll only tell me not to worry, that he’ll tell me soon enough.

 

My gut hurt like a bitch. I haven’t had a decent conversation at all since the dance. We even decided to drive separately to school every morning this week because he needed to leave earlier from home and didn’t want to wake me. Bullshit. I call bullshit on his whole fucking charade. We’re talking about me, I love waking up early, going to school early, but sure, why not. I’ll let him keep at it, I thought, while glaring at my soggy lunch with a raging fire in my eyes.

 

I was desperate to know what was going on with him, and I was desperate to be alone with him again. He needed to know, to know how I felt about him. But again, could the slamming on the music room door before we kissed be a sign? Could that have been why he’s been avoiding me? I furrowed my brows in concentration, feeling a shooting pain in my chest; heartache.

 

“Keith...please tell me what happened. It’s just the two of us here, and I know for a fact how much Lance means to you.” Pidge whispered so that the others in the cafeteria wouldn’t hear her.

 

Her hand had stretched out from her side of the table. I grabbed it, a half smile finding my face. Lance was busy today, too. Shocker. That would make it four lunches in a row, what he was doing or was busy with, I had no idea and he didn’t want to tell me.

 

“Fine. We almost kissed, but something came in the way. I think we both took it as some kind of sign, since we’ve been trying to kiss each other since my birthday. And with no fucking luck.” I admitted harshly, feeling something wet rising in my ducts.

 

“Damn, and now you think he’s avoiding you since we haven’t seen much of him the past week, and since he’s been driving alone every morning. Harsh.” She coughed, but wore a thinking face, tilting her glasses back up to her eyes.

 

She made a flash of a smile. “What?” I asked, trying to eat my soggy taco. I grimaced at the taste and wished Hunk were here to eat it up, but he had study group during lunch on Thursdays.

 

“Nothing, incoming, delinquent.” She grabbed her tray and speed-walked away from our table.

 

“Pidge!?” I tried to grab her, but the gremlin was fast as she zoomed out of the cafeteria, he tongue stuck out when I quickly caught her face.  

 

Something heavy landed on my shoulder, then something heavier sat down next to me with a loud thunk. Lance had dark circles under his eyes. His hair had no products in it, and he smelled, well he smelled.

 

“Dude, what’s going on with you? I haven’t seen you at all this week. If someone is trying to kill you...I’m up for hire.” I tried to joke, but the bronze boy next to me was out cold.

 

He leaned forward to rest his arms on the table, then rest his head in his arms, eyes closed, a low painful groan escaping him. My guess was he had been up late multiple nights, and woke up early every morning. What was he doing?

 

I held my hand up behind his back, thinking about his scar, if it would hurt him if I laid my hand on top of his back to comfort him. From now on, I would become more daring, more bold, If there were a leap that must be taken, I would take it. No more Keith-the-fucking-coward, I thought, still staring at Lance’s hunched back.  

 

My hand found his back, gently rubbing it in circles. I leaned down to the side his face was resting in his arms, a sour look finding his beautiful features, but it eased up when I made the circles on his back. He hummed a delightful noise, steadying my worried heart.

 

“Can you tell me what’s going on, Lance? Was it something I did? Are you avoiding me for what almost happened at the dance?” I kept my voice low, only enough for him to hear with our faces close to each other.

 

We bonked our foreheads when Lance shot up fast at my sudden questions, “Owww!” We both groaned, our hands finding our foreheads. I felt Lance resting a finger on my own forehead while chuckling wildly, something I had missed so much this past week.

 

“Sorry, Mullet. No, this has nothing to do with you! Absolutely nothing! Sure, what almost happened at the dance has been on repeat in my head all week, and I can admit I have been avoiding you a little because of that, but, we’ll get to that later. It’s like I’ve been telling you. Wait, you’ll know what’s up soon enough. Promise. Also there’s been some family stuff going on, and I don’t want to drag you into that..” He said at last, and some relief had found me, but he was still unsure about what almost happened between us, that crack in my heart still residing.

 

“What kind of family stuff?” I asked him, but the bell rang and we had to get to class.

 

In the hall, Lance was quiet, not wanting to answer my question. His family has always been a tricky subject in our friendship. I’ve never met his parents, or his sister. I’ve never been to his house and we never, ever talk more than two minutes about his family until he changes the subject.

 

It did bother me, but, if family issues made him this tired and exhausted, then I almost felt like asking Adam to contact his family to see if there were bigger issues going on at the McClain’s residents than we knew of.  

 

“Keith.” Lance said my name sternly, like he knew what I was thinking about.

 

He grabbed my shoulder for me to look at him. We stood outside the door to homeroom, the halls were a ghost town. Everyone had made it to class, we were the only ones left to go inside, but Miss Allura hadn’t shown up yet.

 

“I know what you’re thinking. My parents aren’t forcing me to do any hard labour or bad things. This is all on my own. Okay? I’ve been really busy this week for a reason. I will tell you eventually what I’m doing, but right now, I’m fine. I do miss hanging out with you though.” He ruffled my bangs wearing my favorite smile.  

 

“Then come to my place after school today. Please? I’ve missed you, too. Can you please, please, please spare one afternoon to play Mario Kart with your best friend?” The knuckles from my gloved hand quickly grazed his jaw, before we heard someone clear her throat behind us.

 

“Boys. You’re not deaf, the bell rang five minutes ago, class has started, you can reenact Romeo and Juliet in Ms. Honerva’s class.” Miss Allura mocked us, but she winked a blue-magenta eye at us when I opened the door for us to go in and start class.

 

No one had seen our small conversation outside the door as Lance and I made our way to our seats. When Miss Allura started talking by the board about what we can expect during finals, Lance’s hand found its way to my desk. A piece of crumpled paper inside his tan hand fell on my desk when he opened his hand. I looked around, then grabbed it, his hand going back to his own desk. From the side of his face, I could make out a happy smile on him, which made my whole body want to do a thousand jumping jacks. Even if it had gone less than a week with hardly any talking, I knew how much I missed this, how much I missed interacting with him.

 

I opened the crumpled piece of paper, slowly and as quietly as possible so that Miss Allura wouldn’t snatch it and read it out loud for the class. Trust me, it’s her favorite thing to do. Lance’s familiar writing came to view and on the paper was written: _Winner of a Cup has to tell the other person a secret. Deal?_

 

So he’s making a game out of us playing a game after school? Fine, he’s on. I lightly kicked his chair twice to make him turn around. I was met by my favorite blue ocean, one I felt I hadn’t seen in forever. His green specks were happily dancing to see me, a peachy grin finding each their own corner on the face of a boy I wanted so bad.

 

As our gazes met, I whispered, “Instead of a secret, I want to ask a personal question. That okay?”

 

Lance furrowed his thin brows, “You’re talking like you’ve already won, Kogane.”

 

“Oh, I know you want to lose. If not you would’ve chosen a different game.” I told him, scoping out a certain strict teacher, but she was too busy with talking about dates and idealisms than to pay attention to us.

 

“But, you win all the games, Kogane….” A light went on in Lance’s head, “Fuck, maybe we should go to the arcade instead and play a shooting game. That’ll give me a better shot at winning, no pun intended.” He winked.

 

“Lonce and Keith! Do I have to move you again!?” Miss Allura shouted from the board, her hands on her hips, her look stone cold, freezing over the whole class.

 

“No, Miss Allura, dear. We were just discussing how fun idealisms are, and how well you teach them.” Lance winked at Miss Allura.

 

She rolled her eyes so hard I’m sure she could see her brain and went back to the board. Lance turned back to me, his look asking me to say yes to go to the arcade, “Fine! By the way how are you doing with your algebra homework?” I remembered. Since we hadn’t been hanging out this week, our study sessions have become a minimum.

 

Lance avoided my gaze. “Lance….okay, we’ll go to the arcade. Play one round. Then we’ll save the question or secret until we go back to my place to study. Sound like a plan?”

 

“Fine, but prepare to lose.” He chuckled.

 

“We’ll see about that, _Sharpshooter._ ”

 

School went by quickly after lunch, and since Lance and I both drove to school this morning, we wounded up driving separately to the arcade, too. Pidge couldn’t come along because she had joined the chess club and they had after school practices, and Hunk was swamped in assignments, but we all knew he wanted to go home to chat with his girlfriend on the cord.

 

Inside the arcade, Lance grabbed my hand and pulled me over to the zombie shooting game. He had a quarter all ready between his fingers to slot into the game for us to play. I wondered why he wanted to make a bet out of this. Was there something he wanted to know? It was always games with this guy, he could have straight up asked me if there was something he was wondering about. But, making a game out of this made things more interesting, and Lance was the most interesting person I knew.

 

This past week, I have been holed up here at the arcade playing this game over and over again to be able to win against Lance. And just like that, I won. Fair and Square. Lance had a look of surprise written all over his face when he pushed the plastic blue gun back in its slot, then made an impressive face at me.

 

“You’ve been practicing, Mullet.” He proudly said, “No waiting until we get home...what’s your question?” He then asked me, looking all prepared with his strong arms crossed, a smug look directed at me.  

 

Suddenly, I felt embarrassed and sort of afraid with what I wanted to ask him. I know I should ask him if he had feelings for me, but doing that could jeopardize our friendship. We were aware of what almost happened in the locker room, and at the dance, but we both hadn’t done anything about it, and there had to have been a reason for that since we’ve both been talking non-stop about, being completely aware that we wanted to kiss each other, but we still hadn’t done it, and why?

 

“Can we go into the Jurassic Park car and talk?” I asked sheepishly, a low nervous giggle leaving my throat.

 

Lance grabbed my hand again and dragged me to the car. Once we sat inside it, and the doors closed as much as they could, he directed a blue-green gaze at me, waiting for my personal question.

 

I had been thinking a lot about the talk with Adam, and not that I wanted to do it or anything, but I had to know where Lance stood, sexually, “Uhm..so...I was just wondering if you only..uhm...If you only liked...girls?” I said the last word really, really low. Lance had to lean in to make out what I asked him.

 

“That’s your personal question? Where I swing?” Lance laughed out loud, then shook his head side to side like I was a small child who had asked a dumb question.

 

“What? I’m curious. You’re my best friend, we’ve almost kissed on multiple occasions, but I’m not sure if it was because you personally wanted to or was caught up in the moment...and I want to know more about you.” I asked him, finding a calm look on the bronze boy next to me playing with the game’s steering wheel.

 

“I am bisexual. I like girls and...and boys.” Lance admitted, but his bright smile went dull, a look of pain finding his face.

 

“What?” I asked, feeling my heart beat rapidly at him liking both girls and boys. I had a shot. “Okay, cool. But, you don’t look happy, what’s up, Lance. You know you can tell me anything.” I grabbed his hand from turning the steering wheel, a half-smile catching my face.

 

“Yeah, I know. I thought it was obvious..even though I do try to hide it at school...But I’m not open..like you. My parents...they have no idea I’m bisexual. They think I’m going to find a nice catholic girl to marry one day, and have lots of children with…” Lance made a disgusted tone with his voice, hitting the steering wheel.

 

“Are they that strict?” I asked, feeling a huge gaping hole being made in my stomach at him not open about liking boys, too. My hopes went from possible, to almost impossible now.

 

“Yeah, they’re super strict. That’s sort of why I act the way I do to get back at them. They also ignore the hell out of me, and only praise my fucking sister who’s like the perfect child who can do no wrong. I do so much for them, try my best and I even get like the best grades, thanks to you, Mullet. But, they still praise her, day in and day out. I fucking hate it.” Lance breathed out angrily, his fist still resting on the steering wheel.

 

“Lance...I never knew you had all of these thoughts in your head. You know you could have gone to me with this. Talk about it, let off some steam. We, Shiro, Adam and I could have tried and help with your family issues.” He put a hand on my shoulder to stop talking, shaking his head dismissively.

 

“It’s no use, Mullet. It’s been like this for a while. Ever since my sister started college two years ago, I’ve become a ghost. A lost child, someone who can’t make their own parents proud, no matter how hard I try. I’ll never be good enough in their eyes, not when they have my older sister to please them enough. I don’t know why I even bothered.” His face fell forward, resting it gently on my shoulder. I could feel warm drops sliding down my neck.

 

“Lance...I’m...Man, I really want to help you. Be there for you…” I lifted his face up, both of my hands on each side of his face, “You mean so much to me, and seeing you like this. It hurts. No son deserves to be treated like this by their parents. You’re amazing, you’re smart, funny, goofy, creative, helpful, beautiful...erhm...beautifully articulate. If your parents can’t see who I see, then it’s their loss.” I smiled warmly at him, taking in the gray storm calming down in front of me.

 

My nose flared with Lance so close to me, “Dude, you stink. When was the last time you showered?” I pushed him back on his seat, his familiar giggly laugh finding my ears causing a ruckus in my chest again, and again.

 

“Whoops...I’ve been busy, Mullet.” He snickered.

 

“Come on, you can shower at my place.” I got out of the car, walking in step with my best friend, but keeping a distance from his prominent stench.

 

“You’re not gonna die if you stand close to me, Mullet.” Lance said glumly, trying to get closer to me, but I moved away a few steps while laughing at him.

 

“Nuh-huh. You stink, dude. Seriously, what have you been up to this past week?” I asked him, holding the door open for him, pinching my nose with my free hand.

 

“Secret. You had your chance to ask, but you wasted your win on something that was pretty obvious to you.” He winked when he walked past me, then flicked my pinched nose.

 

“I’ll race ya to your place.” He then said, waiting for me in the bright sun, his whole body glowing beneath the rays.

 

If he hadn’t smelled, I’d be in his grasp within seconds, but man did he smell.

 

I laughed, “You’re on, McClain.”


	35. Connect

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tags: Boys Kissing  
> Readers:  
> Ao3:  
> The universe:  
> Keith and Lance:  
> Me: HAHAHAHAHAHA YEAH LIKE THAT'S EVER GONNA HAPPEN

Seriously though. If it were like in the movies, and they had a secret parking lot where people held different kinds of races, Lance would have been the king. Cause, man did he have immense driving skills. Why wasn’t he a racer? Had he even considered trying out for some kind of formula 1 racing job?

 

His parents suddenly came to mind. What he told me about them, and how strict they were with him. They’d never let him try out for that. I wondered what they thought about his music? His abuela was the one who encouraged him to pursue in music, but after she passed away, who had helped him continue? Had he been making music behind their backs? Have they told him off, like I did when he said he wanted a year off to pursue in it?

 

Lance’s car was already perfectly parked in the driveway when I swung Red on to my street, and parked her next to Blue. He had already gone inside. My mind scattered to when he told me he was bi, and that he already knew I was open about being gay. Could that have been why he had been reluctant to kiss me? The matter about his parents seemed like a perfect explanation to why nothing had happened between us yet.

 

“Keith, hey. Lance is in the shower, dang did he smell.” Shiro chuckled when he greeted me at the front door, holding a wooden spoon in his hand and a warm smile on his face.  

 

Ruby was sitting in the living room watching cartoons, Kosmo all snuggled up next to her on the couch, “Hey, Keith! Come sit with me and Kosmo!” She shouted from the living room.

 

“Later Rubes.” I kissed her on the top of her head, then pet Kosmo licking my hand.

 

“We have a lot of homework to catch up on so we're just gonna hole up in my room all afternoon.” I told Shiro, then heard Adam come from their office.

 

“Hey, Keith. I saw Lance came in. We missed him, how’s he doing?” Adam yawned loudly, his face looking all kinds of tired, resting his head on Shiro’s shoulder.  

 

It was closing in on the end of the term, Halloween was this weekend, then as soon as November rolled around, finals will become all the jam until Christmas. Adam was swamped in papers and making sure the school had secured the finals and everything for each subject and that all of the homeroom teachers were prepared enough to prepare their students. His eyes were bloodshot from too many espressos and hardly sleeping.

 

“Honey, why don’t you go take a quick break. Ruby wants company.” Shiro kissed his husband, pushing him towards the living room.

 

Adam released a loud sigh, “Fine, a five minute break. I have too many new teachers this year and they’re panicking like crazy about preparing their students for finals. Oh, Keith. Keep the door open if you two are going to study in your room.” He held a stern finger at me, his hazel eyes pinning me next to Shiro.

Shiro, who was usually the strict one of the two, chuckled next to me. He then punched me lightly on the shoulder, “Our boy is growing up. Adam, I’ve never seen this side of you before.” Shiro kissed his husband on the cheek, then made a low growl, “I like it.”

 

I groaned loudly at the two of them who always acted like sappy teenagers in love, “Please...Not in front of me. Why do I have to keep the door open? You know about…” My gray eyes went big to let them know that they already knew about my...situation with a certain delinquent, “Nothing’s going to happen...we’re only going to study, maybe play a few rounds of Mario Kart. You know, same old.” I reassured them, but they were looking at each other like they knew more than I was led on to.

 

“Then having the door open won’t be a problem.” Adam tapped my shoulder, then fell on the chaiselong of the couch and was out like a light.

 

“Papa! Papa!” Ruby was pushing Adam, but he was out cold.

 

“That did the trick.” Shiro smiled warmly at his husband, “He’s been pushing himself all week. How’s Lance? He didn’t look like his usually chipper self when he came in, but it could have been the foul stench of not showering.” Shiro joked, a calm smile finding his face.

 

“I dunno. He won’t tell me.” I said back to him, looking angrily at the top of the stairs, hearing the shower running, being irritated at Lance.

 

“He’ll tell you eventually, must be something important to him.” Shiro said, going back into the kitchen, something delicious wafted from the stove. Had to be a pie, Hunk had given him a recipe Shay made and Shiro wanted to try it out.

 

“Then why won’t he tell me? Aren’t I important enough to know?” I huffed out at my dad who had the audacity to laugh at my hopeless plea.  

 

“To Lance, I think you’re the most important person in his life right now.” Shiro smiled, “Go on up, I think I heard the water stop, he’ll be waiting.” He winked.

 

“Oh, and Keith.” I heard Shiro behind me when I made my way up the stairs, “Listen to Adam, keep the door open.”

 

“Fine.” I stomped up the stairs while rolling my eyes.

 

When I stood in the opening of my door, looking into my room, my whole body felt like bursting into flames. It was a sight I had seen many times before in the boy’s locker room, but this sight was happening in my room, and on my bed.

 

Lance had a towel wrapped around his waist, his hair wet from the shower, his torso glistening from not drying up after his shower. I had to swallow everything I had in my mouth to contain myself. He had laid down on my bed, his head to the wall, hands behind his head staring up at my ceiling, wearing a concentrated face.

 

My legs refused to budge, but my shoulder bumped lightly on the wall. Lance heard me by the door, turning his blue-green eyes to face me, “Finally, took you long enough. Did you get scared by my awesome driving, Mullet?” He smiled that wicked grin of his that always managed to make my knees goes weak.

 

“Clothes...you need clothes.” I tried to say from the door, but felt the words hardly leaving my mouth and instead pointed a half gloved finger towards my closet.

 

“What? Can’t take looking at my sexy bod, Kitten.” He shot out of the bed, inching close to me when he called me by my nickname.

 

“Shut up.” I tried to laugh, and pushed a hand at his hard, wet chest, feeling my body heat up even more at the touch of warm, damp skin on the tips of my fingers.

 

Lance opened my closet and found blue jeans and a band t-shirt, he then held up a pair of red boxers towards me to ask if I didn’t mind. I had to look away in embarrassment to nod at him. I heard him pulling the towel off, and the image of his naked body found me and I was so glad I was wearing jeans. I turned around, thinking he had dressed, but he had only put on my red boxers.

 

My mouth hung open at the sight of him wearing my red boxers. He always wore blue or black boxers and seeing him in red caused my heart to do back flips at an olympic level, “What?” Lance went sheepish at my sudden staring at his finely toned body, the red of the boxers complementing his honey bronzed skin.

 

“Nothing...uhm” I swallowed at the sight of him, “...nothing. Get dressed already. We have a lot of studying to do.” I threw my books and notebooks on my bed, lying down on my stomach when I hit the mattress, my legs sticking out on the other side of the bed.

 

Once Lance was fully dressed, he sat down on the floor at the side of the bed where my head was, his back rested against it, his own head close to mine which was now hanging over the side trying really, really hard to focus on the book I held out instead of looking sideways at a dimwitted delinquent looking marvelous in my clothes.

 

We were both focused on our homework for a while until I got curious, “Hey, Lance? Have you done it with anyone?” I don’t know where I was going with the question and cringed hard at my hopeless curiosity, but I felt like it was the only way to know if he had have sex before or not. We didn’t know that much about each other when it came to romantic situations, but, he always bragged about these fucking chicas, and thinking back to my awkward as hell conversation with Adam, I had to know if he was together with anyone right now until I decided to let my heart break.

 

Lance knitted his brows at my sudden blunt question, craning his head to face my hanging head from the bed, “What an odd timing to ask me something like that...where is this coming from, Mullet? And if you have to know...I haven’t exactly...uhm..done it..with anyone.” He chuckled nervously, “Also, Keith. And I want you to know, there isn’t anyone. There hasn’t been anyone since, well, since you and I started hanging out. No one has been of interest except for…”

 

“Wait...you’re actually a virgin?” I interjected, an incredulous look finding my face. I felt both my brows shooting upwards at him, and he wasn’t having it one bit.  

 

“Guess now’s as good a time than any since you’ve asked. Yeah, I’m a virgin, Keith.” He smiled secretly looking down at my bedroom floor, the balls of his cheeks turning a faded red color, “I’m saving it..for...for someone special. I want my first time to be with someone I love.” His lips made a warm smile when he said the word _love_ , then tipped his head up to me, green specks bouncing in the light causing a whole lot of skips to my heart.  

 

My mouth hung slightly ajar at his sudden answer and I felt I was caught by a refreshing wave when his blue-green eyes caught my gray gaze. It was like I was standing on top of a cliff, and It felt like I was a hundred feet from his ocean, ready to take the leap, but my body was going paralyzed. Come on, It had to be now. I had to take the leap, but my fucking body was holding me back. All of my intrusive thoughts about our friendship, his parents, him not being open about being bisexual, or even knowing if he liked me, it all turned into a paralysis.

 

I wasn’t having any of this. _Fuck being paralysed_ , I thought. I knew where my feelings lied with this boy and I was taking that leap, whether my body felt like it or not. I forced my legs to push me forward from the side of the bed to get closer to the bronze boy. Lance’s face tipped up to mine when I inched closer, feeling the touch of my lips close in on him, and at last, his lips belonged to me.

 

It was like a disney kiss. Like the one in _Aladdin_. Quiet, light, a bit clumsy at first, hesitant, but once I pressed my mouth harder against his, I felt him pushing back as our kiss turned into a full on force, one that almost gave me whiplash.

 

Our kiss broke quickly, lasting only a mere second, none of us moving from our spots. Instead, we wounded up staring at each other with wide eyes. Lance was staring intently at me with the bluest ocean ever to exist. At that, I felt my body sliding off the bed like a slithering snake and hitting the floor without a sound, like a ninja. The only sound in the room was our heavy breathing from our first kiss as I tiptoed to the open door.  

 

Lance was still quiet, shooting a thin, brown brow up at my tiptoeing. I held an index finger to my mouth, then tapped it twice to make sure he stayed quiet as I closed the door as slowly and as quietly as possible.

 

When we both heard a silent click, I made my way over to Lance, resting my knees on each side of his body, then sat down on his lap making myself comfortable. This had to be the first time in our two months as being friends that he had been this quiet, just looking at my face with a warm smile, happily inviting me to his lap.

 

I felt his hands rest on my cheeks, his smile blooming into a toothy grin, pink dusting his bronze cheeks. He urgently pulled me back in, our kisses going harder, our breath growing heavier. He tasted amazing, like spearmint bubblegum, and he smelled like delicious vanilla. Must have stolen a couple spritz after he showered.

 

The taste of Lance on my lips made me go hazy, but a good hazy, one I didn’t want to go away. Our kisses were so good, so full and lusting. We had to break apart to quietly gasp for air a couple times before we dove back into each other, our lips crashing hard as tidal waves like this was something we had been waiting for for a very long time.

 

Lance pulled me back, finally ready to say something, “Fuck, this is so great, Mullet. But, wouldn’t you be more comfortable on the bed?” He asked desperately, taking sharp intakes of breath while he stared at me.  

 

“I’m comfortable right where I am.” I cooed at him, repositioning myself on his lap.

 

“That’s good enough for me. But, oh damn, kitten, you shouldn’t do that right now.” He laughed, then pulled me in again for another taste.

 

My hands were exploring in his hair, and I tried hard not to gasp out loud at how good kissing Lance was to suddenly pull my dads up the stairs. We needed to savour every moment we had together, not knowing when our kissing would end.

 

“Keith.” I felt my name on his lips, a delicious smirk forming when his blue-green eyes sparkled in front of me as I briefly pulled back to look at him. Happiness. That’s what I saw when I took in Lance’s lovely features. The constellation of freckles that had appeared on his nose overnight due to the hot sun we’d been having these past few days. His high, sharp cheekbones defining his beautiful bronze face. Lance McClain, my best friend, who I finally had the nerves to kiss. And man, did it feel good to be bold for once.

 

I dived back into the sea for more kisses. “I’m so happy this is finally happening.” I said in his mouth ready to protrude more of my feelings for him until we both felt something vibrating under my butt.

 

The vibrating continued, and Lance made an angry growl pushing me off of him, “Sorry, Kitten. I have to take this.” He said when he stared at his phone, then kissed me one more time on the lips before he swiped his phone.

 

“Hola, Mama…” He said into the phone, then there was a full on argument happening in Spanish when he carefully opened my door to go into the bathroom to continue shouting at his mother.

 

I walked out of my room to find Adam and Shiro on the stairs trying to listen in on Lance’s screaming in a foreign language. I cocked a black brow at the two eaves droppers, “Maybe we shouldn’t eavesdrop.” I said with a strict tone, letting them know that Lance may need his privacy. They nodded in agreement, Adam waving for me to follow them downstairs into the kitchen.

 

After what felt like an eternity, with Lance screaming Spanish words, and Adam wincing from time to time being the only one of us who could understand what was being said, Lance finally showed himself in the kitchen. Adam, Shiro and I were helping ourselves to some Lemon Meringue Pie when he came in. I held a plate up for him asking if he wanted any, but he only shook his head letting it hang low when he found a seat next to me.  

 

“I have to head home. Mama is kinda pissed. I sort of didn’t tell her where I was today, and she thought I was lying dead in a ditch somewhere, so I should go face the consequences.” He held his arm, a sad face finding him when he tipped it up to me.

 

I felt bad for him, being the one who begged for him to hang out with me today. All because I missed hanging out with him. Stupid. I was so stupid, and knew I needed to right the wrong so that Lance didn’t get scolded for something that wasn’t even his fault to begin with.

 

“I’ll go with you.” I told Lance when Adam and Shiro left the kitchen.

 

“To my house? You heard my Mama, she was pissed! I don’t want her scolding you, too, Keith. She can be a tough bitch when she’s angry. She’ll chew your face right off, and after well...I really like your face, Keith.” Lance tried hard to laugh, but it was useless. Given from his expression, he was not looking forward to facing his mother.

 

“Come on, Lance. We’ve been friends for a while now. I should meet them. If you’re going to be scolded, I should be scolded, too. This is just as much my fault as it is yours, and you know that.” I said with a half-smile, letting the memory of us kissing be in the past for the moment.  

 

“You sure you’re up for this? They..” He went into a whisper, “They can’t know about…”

 

I nodded at him, “Don’t worry, that’s between you and me.” I winked, wanting to kiss away the pain he was feeling, but I knew we weren’t dating or anything, and his parents didn’t know he was into boys. I’d have to introduce myself as his best friend. And that’s exactly what I’m going to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "What can I say except, you're welcome!"


	36. Mother

The ride to his house was quiet. I didn’t know whether to bring up our kiss or not. For some odd reason, it felt like something to be pushed to the side at the moment. We didn’t know, or, at least I wasn’t sure what kind of feelings Lance had for me. Was the kiss one of pure attraction for each other, or did he have feelings for me, too?

 

Love isn’t exactly a word I want to throw out casually, since I wasn’t sure either if it were love I felt for him, but, I did feel something more than attraction. He meant so much to me, like right now, with his tight face, and concentrated look at the road, all I wanted to do was protect him from any dangers coming his way.

 

My hand hovered above his thigh, wanting nothing else than to calm him by laying it down on it and squeezing it gently, hoping whatever thoughts he was having would fly away. I do it, my hand resting gently on his thigh.

 

“Keith.” He whispered, I pulled my hand away.

 

“No, no, no, Kitten, put it back this instant.” He made a sour face at me when I pulled my hand away, and it quickly found its way back on his thigh, a smile finding his face.

 

“That’s much better, thanks man.” His voice sounded calmer, happier.

 

“Have I ever told you how much I like it when you call me Kitten?” I said, looking out the window, feeling the same dread Lance was feeling about meeting his parents, and having to introduce myself as his friend and not anything more, but we hadn’t even had that conversation yet.

 

“You hate it when I call you that, that’s sort of why I keep on calling you that. But, knowing you like it, I’m gonna trade out all the Mullets with Kitten whenever we’re alone.” His right hand landed on top of mine, his thumb stroking the top of my hand.

 

“I hate when you call me Mullet. Can you trade it all the way out, like never call me that again?” I tried to persuade, but he wounded up laughing towards the road, a nice gutted bellow to be exact.

 

“Hah! Like that’s ever gonna happen, Mullet.” His hand squeezes mine, then lets go of my hand as he drives carefully into his driveway.

 

When he parks the car and kills the ignition, he turns to look at me. “I, what we did in your room was awesome, amazing, astonishing, amaze-balls…”

 

“Lance, shut it, enough with the alliteration, I know you can’t find more synonyms to amazing with the letter A. But, yeah. I’m happy it happened, and don’t worry about your parents. We’re only friends right? Friends who like to...kiss each other.” I stated, heat bursting on my cheeks at the memory of our kiss, my first kiss.

 

“Right..so this will be like a friends with benefits thing? Nothing more, no romantic part like going on dates or stuff like that? I can’t spoil you, or call you nicknames?” He made a confused grimace, I wasn’t sure how to interpret it, but had to laugh at how cute he was being.

 

“You already call me different nicknames, so you can keep doing that. And you sort of already spoil me with all the free ice-cream.” I interject, then answer his question, “But yeah, that sounds perfect. Friends with _kissing_ benefits. So whenever we feel like kissing we’ll let the other one know, like use a call sign or something?” I asked him, dodging the romantic part he talked about, not sure where I wanted to go with that yet.

 

“Cool, cool, cool, cool. So….what would be a less obvious call sign that you wanna kiss me, you know besides attacking my mouth every second, I see you looking at my lips right now, Mullet.” He cooed at my lusting eyes. Damn, I’m going to have to tone down the lustful gaze from now on if we’re not going to get caught.

 

“Shut up, if we weren’t outside your house I’d definitely attack you with my mouth because I can see how much you’re lusting for me, Lancey-lance.” I mocked his stupid nickname, then felt a light bulb light up in my head, “Well there we have it, whenever I mock your stupid nickname, I want us to kiss.” I smiled.

 

“You don’t like the name Lancey-lance? I’m gonna have to find a different chica who does.” He snickered, but I punched him lightly on the shoulder, then flip him the bird.

 

“I like that, how about I flip you the bird whenever I want to kiss you.” He suggested, feeling like his idea was better than mine.

 

“But you flip me the bird all the time.” I tell him, understanding finding my face before the heat does.

 

“We gotta get inside or else Mama is going to bite both our heads off.” He opened the door, and waited for me to get out to follow him to the front door.

 

“Hola? Mama, papa….it’s Lance...I’m not dead.” Lance walked carefully through the front door, afraid a certain mama was going to rip his head off then tell off his decapitated body to learn to tell his mother where he’s going.

 

“Lance! There you are, what took you so long to come home? I called you an hour ago, your sister has been waiting to eat until you came home.” Lance’s mother said angrily in a I think was a Spanish accent, or it could be Cubano, unfortunately I wasn’t familiar with the differences and hoped they would forgive me if I say anything stupid to them about their culture.

 

“Oh, and you brought Keith!” She went in for a hug, and almost strangled me with her firm hold of me, “It’s so nice to finally meet you, Keith. Mi hijo here talks about you all the time, but he never invites his friends over, says we would embarrass him.” She bopped a clean wooden spoon on her son’s head.

 

“Mama, stop, you’re already embarrassing me.” Lance rubbed his head like a small child looking adorable in the process, “I brought Keith as proof that I was with him all day, and to say sorry that I forgot to tell you where I was today. I forgot that we were going to have dinner with Ronnie tonight.” He said in a low voice, afraid of his mother going to scold him or bop him on the head again.  

 

“Have you eaten, querido?” Lance’s mama asked me, and I shook my head to let her know I hadn’t, “Perfecto, we’ll finally get to know Lance’s new friend. And you get to meet his big sister! We’re so proud of her, aren’t we, mi amor.” She rested a hand under Lance’s chin, but it was easy to see the sour face he was making at her, but his mother was oblivious, blindsided by her daughter’s success, I guess.

 

“You two go wash your hands, then meet us in the kitchen. Ronnie is making dinner tonight with me, and Papa will be home soon.” She left us in the hall to finally take our jackets and shoes off.

 

“Well, well, well….little brother brought home a lost kitty, I see.” The voice of an older version of Lance, except she was a girl came by with her arms crossed, wearing a pink apron, and red glasses, her smirk identical to Lance’s, it was uncanny.

 

“Ronnie, please. Go back to mama….I don’t need you tormenting me, too. This is why I never bring friends over.” Lance groaned, dragging my arm up the stairs to the bathroom.

 

“Your family seems okay, Lance.” I tell him while we both wash our hands like his mama told us to.

 

“Just you wait. The dinner table is the worst part of the day for the McClains, or at least for me. That’s when they gloat my sister from top to bottom, and what do they say about me...nada. Seriously, they don’t even ask me how my day is, they’re way too busy talking to or about Ronnie.” Lance pouted, forgetting to stop pumping the soap bottle.

 

“Maybe Lancey-lance has enough soap.” I stuttered, trying out our call sign for the first time, feeling the beating of my heart speed up.

 

The door to the bathroom was closed, he turned his blue gaze to me and landed a soft kiss on my lips, “One more.” I smiled, when he pulled back, and kisses me two more times, a new bright smile finding my face, “I can get used to this.” I tell him, feeling my body swaying.

 

“You’re a little daredevil, that’s what you are, Mullet. Let’s go face the music. Good luck.” He kisses me one more time for good measure or good luck, before he opens the door and we find ourselves seated at the kitchen table.

 

Dinner smelled amazing in the McClain’s residence. His sister and mother had made empanadas with rice and salad, and I felt my mouth was watering to sink my teeth into the deliciousness placed before me on the table.

 

“We say grace before dinner, Keith. I hope that is okay.” Lance’s Papa informs me, and I smile and grab Lance’s hand and Ronnie’s hand, then close my eyes to let Lance’s Mama say grace.

 

As soon as she was done, they all dug in. I kept still not sure where to start. Shiro always taught me to be polite when I visited someone’s house, and wait for them to tell me when I can take any food. Luckily, Lance was already on it, grabbing my plate and putting three empanadas, a lot of rice and salad on top.

 

“Here. Eat till your heart’s content.” Lance smiled when he handed me the plate.

 

“So, Keith. How is our Lance at school these days. We haven’t been informed about anything….mischievous lately. I think we have you to thank. We were afraid our Lance was going to become a dropout...Good thing we have our Ronnie though. She’s top of her class at her college, and when she graduates, she’ll be given one of the finest positions. We’re so proud of her.” Lance’s Mama started bragging. Damn, Lance was right. Like really right. He had become a ghost in their vision, not even caring about his delinquencies.

 

“Lance is doing great, actually. He’s really smart. I don’t think he needed much tutoring when Adam assigned him for me to tutor him. He recently got an A in history.” I tried to butter them up, but the A went past their heads.

 

“That’s nice, Lance. So Keith. You’re Principal West’s son, right?” Lance’s Mama then asks me.

 

“I am. He’s my adoptive father.” I tell everyone around the table.

 

“Oh? Lance never mentioned you were adopted. What happened to your birth mother and father.” She straight up asked me, but mothers were always nosy people.

 

“Mama, please. Keith doesn’t like talking about his past.” Lance interjected, but I felt like it might be the time to let him know some things about my past. He had let me come to his home and introduce me to his parents and show me what he was talking about earlier, it would be fair for him to let him know how much I was suffering too, and how lucky his parents should be to have their son, a son who was as amazing as Lance.

 

I could feel the empanadas rise in my throat at the thought of my mother and father. My eyelids were starting to grow heavy, and I suddenly felt light-headed, but I really wanted to be able to face these fears for once, and what better time than to talk a bit about it in front of my best friend and his parents? Not really a good time, but this was as good a time than any other.

 

The empanadas find my stomach when I swallowed hard, flaring my nose a couple times before I forced out the first fact. “I…” I swallowed, feeling the empanadas forcing their way up my throat again. “Sorry...I haven’t seen my mother since I was seven….and my dad...my real dad...he…” I suddenly felt tears brimming my eyes, fragments of the memory finally making its way into my head, my body now shaking uncontrollably.

 

“Keith…” Lance shot up, giving his Mama a glare while pulling on my arm, “Come on...We’re leaving.” He told me, but his voice was all muffled like everything else around me had become.

 

“Mi hijo, what’s going on? Keith? Are you okay, querido? Lance, I didn't know.” His mama sounded sorry, her hand finding my back, his father finding a glass of water for me to wash down the bile resting in my throat.  

 

“Lance you should have told us.” Ronnie interjected while he dragged me away from the table.

 

“I didn’t know he would react like this, Ronnie! Keith has never been able to talk about his past, and I didn’t know Mama was going to ask about his birth parents, I thought she knew he was adopted!” Lance screamed back at his sister, his voice still muffled in my ears.

 

My head was still feeling like a balloon ready to pop, along with my heavy body, my legs barely able to keep their footing. Lance had a hard time dragging me out of the house. I stood still, my hand gripping Lance’s arm to stop dragging me. I took the glass of water and downed every single cold drop.

 

The room was stabilizing now, the swaying fading away. I gave the glass back to Lance’s papa, giving his family a weak smile. “I’m sorry. I really wanted to tell you guys, but..well...trauma does that to you.” I tried to joke, but tears were spilling down my cheeks as the fragmented memories flooded my mind.

 

“We’re so sorry, querido. Are you feeling better?” His mama patted my back, but I felt like telling her off for ignoring her son.

 

“I’m fine. I think I need to leave. Thank you for dinner. You guys have an amazing son, please don’t forget that.” I bluntly tell them before I make my way to the front door.

 

“Do you want to go home?” Lance asked me, and I shake my head.

 

“No...can you take me somewhere where I can clear my head a bit?” I asked, feeling my body slowly coming back to life.

 

“I know a place.” Lance’s voice was soothing, comforting, everything I needed at this exact moment.

 


	37. Woodsmoke

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey ya'll. Hope you're in for the long run. Now that the build-up for their painstakingly long awaited kiss has finally happened, I hope you still want to carry on with the story. Their relationship is finally at a state where they need to find out where they lie, and how they truly feel for each other. There are other things at stake in their lives, and having a boyfriend may not be the first thing they need to figure out (although, it really is.) I hope I'm able to write a nice continuation to where they are now in the story, and thanks again for reading!

“No wonder you always smell like a campfire.” I surprised myself by warming my hands at the crackling campfire we sat around under the open night sky. 

 

Lance had taken me to his secret hideaway. A secluded camping site about a thirty minute drive from his house. Hardly anyone used this reserve and Lance loved the smell of campfires so he would always build a small fire to sit by and think, and write lyrics for his music. I loved it. 

 

“Yeah, I’m glad I got to finally bring you here. It’s been on my list for awhile now.” He added more wood to the fire, then fished out a marshmallow to stab with his stick. 

 

He handed me a stabbed marshmallow, inching closer to me, an arm slinging around my shoulder to pull me close to his body, “I’m sorry about what happened during dinner. My parents...they don’t think sometimes, and I didn’t tell them about you being adopted because I thought we’d never get this far.” Lance said, taking a bite of a roasted marshmallow. 

 

“Don’t worry about it. You know, the reason I haven’t told you about my past is because I literally, and physically can’t. You’ve seen what happens to me whenever I try..My body goes all stuck, my mind turns into a mess and I fucking hate it. Today though, I was so angry at your parents not acknowledging how amazing you are, and I wanted them to feel your pain, I wanted them to realize how lucky they are to have you for a son...but…” I go quiet, resting my head on Lance’s shoulder, feeling safe despite being near the crackling campfire. 

 

“I really want to flip you the bird, but it doesn’t seem appropriate right n…” Lance started, but I cut in and kiss him, hard, so hard that I needed everything around me to be forgotten. I needed most of this day to be forgotten, except for when we kissed in my room earlier today, I never, ever wanted to forget that moment. The moment I finally took the leap, and plunged into the dazzling, bright blue sea of Lance McClain. 

 

We wounded up kissing each other into oblivion. Lance’s warm, soft mouth finally opening up to greet my tongue for the first time, and man, it was even better than mac and cheese, I’ll tell you. We kept on kissing for a long time, everything around me finally forgotten except for the boy who’s tongue tasted of delicious honey, asking for more of my own tongue. 

 

“Lance…” I breathed heavily out, when we finally released, my hand finding his cheek, staring deeply into those hues of sea green, “Thank you, for...for being my best friend. I don’t know who’d I be without you.” I kissed his cheek, then hugged him for dear life, his warmth being all that I needed in that exact moment. 

 

“Fuck, Keith don’t make me cry, I can only take so much.” His voice cracked at my being a sappy sap in front of him. 

 

At that, Lance grabbed one of the melted marshmallows and smeared it all over my face. His laugh turning into a contagious disease causing me to laugh even louder than him when the gooey white substance got all over my face. I took the other marshmallow and got ready to smear it on him, but he was already on to me, getting up and hiding behind Blue. 

 

“Keith! Don’t you dare, my skin is perfect, I can’t have a fucking marshmallow ruin my skin routine! Keeeeeith!” I find his face with the marshmallow and smear it back all over his beautiful face, a sinister laugh leaving me while i keep on smearing his cheeks, his forehead, his mouth.

 

I pull him in to me, and kiss the marshmallow smeared onto his lips, licking it away, “I like this. I like us like this, Lance.” I hold onto him as he leans against Blue’s door. 

 

His strong arms hug me tighter as he leaned down to press a gentle kiss my neck, “Same here, kitten, same here. I thought we would have a nice dinner with my family, and that would you tear them a new one with your groundbreaking intellect, but you’re just too damn polite, man. Shiro’s really done a number on you.” He chuckled softly in my ear. 

 

I groaned in his chest at the mention of Shiro, tipping my head up an inch to glare at him before I flicked his long, perfect, slender nose, “I’m the perfect house guest, unless people start asking the wrong questions…..” My head dup into Lance’s chest, feeling embarrassed, feeling stupid, the memory of what happened during dinner with his parents coming back to me. With the memory reprising in my brain, an exasperated noise left my throat, my fingers clawing into Lance’s jacket. 

 

“Hey, Kitten. Look at me.” Lance asked nicely, his soothing voice the only thing that could make me feel better for what happened during dinner. Man, we weren’t even an official couple and I managed to make a fool of myself in front of them. 

 

I looked up again, finding his middle finger in my view. My eyes roll at him for being an adorable imbecile, and I lean in to kiss those peacy lips again, and again, and again. We stay like this for a while, until I feel something vibrate in my pocket. 

 

“Adam..hey.” I said when I picked up the phone. 

 

“Hey Keith, just wanted to check in with you, it’s nearing your curfew. You gonna be any longer? How’s Lance? Did he make up with his parents? Was everything alright?” Adam, the perfect parent, despite his childish demeanor at times. Always worried about everyone else before himself. 

 

“Yeah, we’re gonna leave soon. Lance is fine, I had dinner at his place. His parents were...well, they were McClains.” Was all I was able to tell him, and Lance nodded along to my description of his family. 

 

“Good. Good. Don’t be too long, you guys have a test tomorrow if I remember correctly, and you know how Shiro can get if you bomb it.” He reminded me, a painful grimace finding my face. I did not want to be grounded now after finally being together with Lance like this. We’re going to need a lot of time together in the future to do other things. 

 

“Fine, yeah. I’ll show him, I’m gonna ace that test and shove it…” I breathed out a low chuckle, finding Lance close to me, his nose nuzzling in my neck causing my chuckle to turn into a bubbly giggle. I shove a gloved hand at his face to back off while I talked to my dad, it would be bad enough if Adam found out about us, what with his stupid dad talks and open doors. 

 

“Good. Tell Lance I said hi. He’s coming over this weekend right? You guys had a Halloween movie marathon night planned, right?” Adam then asked almost like he knew Lance was right next to me listening in. 

 

We had both forgotten about this weekend. Pidge, Hunk, Ryan and James were all coming over to marathon a bunch of scary movies for Halloween. Halloween wasn’t until Sunday, but we had all of Saturday to binge-watch a whole bunch of movies. I thought it was cool that Ryan and James were blowing off one of the biggest parties at Lacey’s place this Saturday to come hang out at my place instead. 

 

But now, cosying up with Lance here, almost like we were boyfriends, but we weren’t, we were friends with kissing benefits, I really wanted the weekend for just the two of us. But, we were too good friends with everyone else, and we’d be able to manage a whole day without kissing, right? 

 

“That’s right. Lance says hi back. I’ll see you when I come home, love ya, say hi to Shiro from Lance too! Bye.” I end the call, and find Lance wearing a scheming face. 

 

“Dude, what are you planning now?” I asked him, jabbing a couple fingers in his gut, a low laugh, and a plea to stop tickling him escaping his big mouth. 

 

“Wait and see, Kitten.” He said with a guttural groan at my jabbing, then winked a blue-green eye at me, the flickers from the campfire reflecting from his steady ocean. 

 

“Am I a total sap now? But, you have to know this, Lance. I really,  _ really _ like your eyes... Lancey-Lance.” I said, then leaned in to peck him once on his lips, then pulled back to check the time, “We have a good ten minutes to make-out before you have to drive me hom-” He urgently pulled me back in to continue our kiss, going even wilder than we had after kissing the whole day. His tongue was doing twirls, and flicks in my mouth, making me moan for the first time in front of someone. 

 

“Fuck.” I pushed back, breathing heavy, hearing Lance laugh at me. 

 

Lance licked his lips, his ocean drawing me back to him, his hands caressing my face, “You are so adorable, Kitten. I want to keep you forever in my hold, but..” 

 

“But?” I cock a brow at his corny words, my hands trying to wipe away the stained patches melted marshmallow I smeared on him earlier.  

 

Lance shook his head, wanting me to forget he even mentioned the word. Instead his ocean eyes turned into a storm of worry. “Hey.” He started, nuzzling his head in my neck. 

 

“Yeah?” I asked him, resting my head on top of his. All I wanted to do was stay here, sitting down by this campfire, and forget the world. Forget about finals, about college, about McClains, about Her and him, absolutely everything. I wanted nothing more than to stay here, with Lance. 

 

“Do you want to try again and talk about it? Your parents?” Lance asked, his face squished in my neck, but he turned it to the side so that I could catch a sparkling blue wave. 

 

“I don’t know….Lance. It’s stil too soon, and I’m scared I’m going to faint or something. It’s just so damn hard. I really do want to tell you what happened, and why I haven’t seen my mom in over a decade, but...I get really sick to my stomach, then my sight goes blurred, and I feel like...I honestly feel like dying most of the time.” I admitted, tears brimming my eyes while I tell him this. 

 

Lance pulls back, his face the look of someone who didn’t know what to do except be there. But, there wasn’t much to do other than be there. So what he was doing now, looking like that, his look of pure sadness, eyes glowing from the orange light of the fire, looking like sunlight reflecting in the ocean. It was enough. More than enough. He didn’t feel like he needed to save me. All I needed was him, here, with me. 

 

“Keith...” He breathed my name, ready to say more, but I stopped him with a kiss. 

 

“Don’t, Lance. I don’t need any saving. All I need is a friend.” I pull him in to me, both of my arms wrapping tightly around his waist, nuzzling my own head into his neck, feeling the tears that were building up trail down my cheeks. “Okay?” I sniff back the snot from my nose, blinking away the tears so they don’t fall on his neck, then laugh since I’m getting snot all over him any ways.

 

Lance doesn’t say anything, but I see his blue-green eyes trail down to his watch. He makes a sad sigh, indicating that our ten minutes are long overdue. 

 

“Time’s up, Mullet. We gotta roll. Don’t want daddy principal to ban me from your home this weekend. And you have a test to ace tomorrow. If you get a whopping big, fat A. I’ll tell you what I’ve been working on this past week.”  He kisses the tip of my nose, and walks to the campfire to put it out. 

 

“You said you wouldn’t call me Mullet when we’re alone..” I pouted at him when I make my way to get in Blue. 

 

“Yeah, but it’s so hard. You’re Mullet, that’s how it is. Can’t change these things.” Lance’s logic was illogical to say the least. 

 

I put on our current playlist, and Lance started singing to the music, his gorgeous voice reaching my ears. Today had been a wild roller coaster of good things and bad, but we were one step closer. I was one step closer to facing my fears, I was able to take a leap, and there were plenty more leaps waiting for me. 


	38. Waiting

 Ryan stood at the front door when I opened it. “Hey man! Are these good enough to watch? I know McClain is like the horror movie guru, so I wanted to make sure I got the juicy ones he likes.” 

 

He had a wide white smile at the ready when i opened the door, holding a large stack of DVDS in his dark hands. All week he had been talking non-stop about our Halloween movie night, would have thought he hadn’t been invited to one before. I decided right then and there to mentally note down to invite him to our next movie night at Pidge’s.

 

He was the first one to arrive. Hell, he was early, too. The others weren’t coming in another hour or so. But this was good. It would give me time to get to know our star athlete on our own terms, without a certain jealous delinquent in the way. He would cough up a wild storm if he saw me sitting alone with Mr. Popular looking really good in his Halloween costume.

 

Ryan had gone all out with his costume. Something that wasn’t needed since this was just going to be a horror movie marathon, and we all agreed on dressing up for the occasion, but not going all out, just an outfit or something in the like. Ryan, he did get the memo, but he decided to look past that and went with dressing up like he came out of an episode of Game of Thrones.

 

“Dude? Are you supposed to be Khal Drogo? You went all out! We agreed not to dress up that much.” I took in his very Dorthraki attire.

 

He looked like a darker skinned Khal Drogo, except he had the face of an innocent little lamb, and couldn’t kill a fly, except on the field. Still, he was able to find a decent costume, and a wig that suited him well, and he was easy to recognize. Not a lot of people can pull that off.

 

“Yeah, well, you know me. I’m kind of competitive, and if we end up having a who has the best costume of the night competition then I want to win!” Ryan chuckled as he made his way inside still holding the stack of DVDs.

 

I directed him to the living room to set the DVDs on the coffee table. While he got situated in the house, Ruby came running in to see who had come, but once she took in Ryan’s costume, her dark brown eyes grew wide in terror before she ran the opposite way in a state of panic screaming for daddy.

 

Ryan made a choking sound when Ruby ran away from him. It was kind of hilarious, but I felt bad for the guy, reaching a gloved hand to squeeze his shoulder. “Don’t take it personal. You’re wearing a damn good costume. She’ll warm up to you in no time.” I smiled while reassuring our star athlete.

 

“Ryan!” Adam found us in the living room, grabbing Ryan’s hand in greeting, a wide smile finding his tan face.

 

He directed his gaze to me, glasses glinting in the light. “You should show Ryan around, he hasn’t been here before.” Adam smiled warmly at us. “Khal Drogo, nice!” He said while pointing a finger up and down Ryan’s costume.

 

The apple’s of Ryan’s chocolate colored cheeks turned a maroon shade, and I laughed off his embarrassment in front of our principal and my adopted father. I balled my hand to a fist and bumped Ryan’s shoulder to shake off his sudden flush. Adam had joined in my light play with our star athlete.

 

“C’mon, I’ll show you around the house. The other’s won’t be here for another hour.” I start pushing him up the stairs, but notice then how quiet the house had suddenly become.

 

“Hey, Adam?” I called after him. He caught my steel gaze before he made his way back to his office. “Where’s Ruby and Shiro?” I asked.

 

Adam smiled, nodding his head out the window from the living room, “Shiro’s taking Ruby to sleep over at Nana’s, thought we’d give you guys the house for tonight. We’ll be in the office all evening before we go catch a movie later. You promise to keep the house clean when we’re out?” He smirked at me, a gleam shining in his hazel eyes like he knew how much of a mess we’re definitely going to make.

 

Like come on! We’re going to be five guys and Pidge, of course we’re going to make a mess. Especially since we’re going to watch horror movies. I hated them with a passion, and wished I could cancel the night, or climb in a rocket ship and explore outer space instead. Luckily, knowing that Lance would be there tonight helped my anxiety, and reduced my fear of zombies wanting to eat my brains out while watching the movies.

 

I made a contemplated look at Adam, but smiled cheekily when I said, “Sure. We’re not going to build a huge pillowfort in the living room and eat all the sticky junk food we can find.”

 

Adam could read my sarcasm, and only frowned at me like any old father who knew how teenagers could be. He made a low sigh, “Fine. But, you guys need to clean up by tomorrow. Is anyone sleeping over tonight? I need to know so that we can put on the laundry machine for new sheets to put on the couch tonight.”

 

“What? Why can’t we sleep in my room, or in the fort? Oh, and only Lance is sleeping over. Pidge and Hunk had things to do tomorrow morning, and I didn’t ask Ryan or James.” I avoided Adam’s dark gaze when I told him I didn’t ask my two new friends.

 

I know it seemed rude, but since I knew Pidge and Hunk couldn’t sleep over, I took that as a chance to finally get some alone time with Lance. Ever since we kissed for the first time a couple days ago, and made a sort of friends with kissing benefits agreement, we’d haven’t been exactly able to try it out.

 

“Well, it’s too late to ask them now. Ryan’s gonna want to go home to change. Next time, Keith. Ask them, it’s common courtesy. I’ll put a wash on. You put the sheets on when they’re dry later, okay?” He cocked a thick, brown brow at me like he knew we weren’t on planning on sleeping in our own separate rooms.

 

Hiding our new relationship was going to be tricky around Adam. Mainly because he was my father, but there was the problem with him being the principal at school, and he roamed the halls every single hour. My mouth was missing a certain delinquent’s spearmint flavoured lips.

 

“Sure, whatever. Are we done?” I felt antsy, wanting to be done with this conversation. But, I regretted my choice of tone and made an apologetic look at Adam before he smiled and turned around to head back into his office.

 

“Hey, aren’t you gonna wear a costume?” Ryan was looking around my room.

 

I found him checking out my bookshelf, wearing an impressed face when he pulled out one of my favorite novels. While he sat down on my bed to read the first chapter, I pulled open the top drawer of my commode. I pulled out the packet that contained my costume, a large grin spreading on my face when I took in the photo on the front.

 

Lance and I had gone to the Halloween store yesterday and bought our costumes. We didn’t spend much on them. Instead of going all out with really cool costumes, we decided to find the wackiest costumes in the store, and for the cheapest price.

 

I shook the packet with my costume at Ryan as I said, “I’m gonna go change, you okay hanging here alone for two minutes?”

 

Ryan made a weird face at me, his head tipping up from my book. “Why can’t you just change in here? We’re friends. Unless…” He made a snide smirk like he knew something was up.

 

He knew about me liking Lance, but since Lance and I weren't exactly an item. Only best friends who liked to make out with each other. I had to try and tell him that nothing was going on between me and that dimwit I called my best friend.

 

“There’s no problem. I’m just scared you’re gonna fall in love with me as soon as you see my fabulous body.” I tried to channel Lance’s personality, but was met with a cackling star athlete.

 

Ryan couldn't stop laughing. He was holding his hands to his stomach, his wig almost being snatched when he toppled over on my bed. As he finally regained his composure, and pretended to wipe a fake tear from his eyes, he smiled happily at me.

 

“You’re hilarious, Keith. No worries there. I don’t mind some male meat, but you’re not my...type?” He cocked his Khal Drogo make-uped face at me, and was I supposed to feel offended? Because I did feel a tinge of offence when he said I wasn’t his type.

 

For some odd reason, I think I wanted Ryan to like me. But, for whatever reasons, I couldn’t put my tongue on it. Was it in hopes to make Lance jealous, or was I still hung up on my crush on him from freshman year?

 

Ryan read my quiet state, a lopsided smile finding his dark, handsome, Khal Drogo impersonated face. “Listen, Keith. I know you had a crush on me. But, I’m sure those feelings are gone. You like Lance, yeah?” He reassured me, fist bumping my shoulder.

 

“What! I never had a crush on you, and that thing I had with Lance wasn’t anything.” I muttered, trying to hide that Lance and I were actually kissing a lot in secret, but we didn’t want anyone, absolutely no one finding out about that. Which was something I still hadn't decided was a good thing or a bad thing. Still, it was mostly because his parents still didn’t know he was bisexual, and would freak if they found out him and I were make-out buddies.

 

The room grew quiet, that awkward tension I always tried to avoid because being social always meant that there can and will be awkward silence once in a while. I noticed Ryan shifting awkwardly on my bed, picking up my book again when he said, “Really? Okay, cool. Good to know. I’ll let you get to it, Keith. Don’t mind me, I’ll just read in your book.” He smiled brightly like what just happened was long gone, erased as easy as an eraser to a piece of paper.

 

“Sure.” I said as I started changing out of my clothes and into my costume.

 

Within a couple minutes, everything was back to normal between Ryan and I and it felt great that what our small falling out was something we both meant didn’t happen. Laughter had found Ryan again, his cheeks turning into that same maroon color when he took in my moth costume.

 

I thought I looked awesome because I thought my costume was fucking hilarious, but Ryan didn't understand. What I loved about my costume was that it was cheap, I could call myself mothman, and Lance’s costume was going to be bomb next to mine. Everyone was going to wet their pants when they see us together to say the least.

 

We made our way back down the stairs after I showed him the second floor in my moth costume. I knew I should have shown him before I changed because he was snickering every time I opened my mouth, and shifted because the wings attached to my costume flapped on their own hitting me in the face every time. Cheap costume, okay.

 

Before we found the living room, I felt Ryan’s hand on my shoulder turning me around to face him. He had a new weird look on his face, but it seemed familiar for some reason like I had seen Lance wear the exact same look.

 

“Listen Keith. I didn’t mean what I said in your room, I just thought since you told me you liked…” His chocolate brown eyes twinkled from the yellow light in the ceiling, and I thought I saw specks of green glow from them. “You know what, doesn’t matter. I think I see our main event in the living room.” Ryan cooed, then winked at me as he made his way into the living room, darting quickly past me not wanting to complete what he was going to tell me.

 

“Kinkade! Look at you sporting the hotstuff that is Khal Drogo. Yoooo, Jason Momoa has some mean competition.” Lance said gleefully when I came into the living room and noticed the two of them greeting each other.

 

When our gazes met, a dorky smile found his golden face and I felt my insides turn into goo again. That boy, he didn’t have to do anything except smile and all I’ll ever do in return is melt, melt, melt.

 

As we both took in our costumes, we gave each other a thumbs up. Lance flipped the bird in the process indicating something we hadn’t done in almost three days and man did I want to drag his arm and pull him up to my room, but we knew very well that we couldn’t. We knew we had to wait. And waiting was always a bitch.

 


	39. Pillowfort

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I started writing the epilogue, and I'm not even done writing this story...I just really loved the epilogue in my head and had to get it written down before I forgot everything. It really gave me motivation to write more on this story and get it done, even if we are only 2/3 through the story...there's a lot left to be done, but most of it is healthy and fluffy. :)

Pidge pushed her glasses up from the tip of her nose. Her honey-brown brows knitting. “Wait...I get _your_ costume, Keith. But, what the hell is Lance supposed to be!? He looks like a fucking lampshade!” Pidge exclaimed, wearing a green Power Rangers costume, a look of confusion flashing on her honey colored eyes at my and Lance’s costumes.

 

James, Hunk and Ryan were on pillowfort duty in the middle of the living room, placing it right in front of the large flat screen tv. This was going to be perfect. With Ruby gone for the night, and Adam and Shiro going out later, we could pretty much do whatever we wanted to do as long as we cleaned up afterwards.

 

“Haven’t you seen that meme? The one with the moth, and the lamp?” Lance’s brows were having a party with his forehead as he tried to explain Pidge our costume idea.

 

She shrugged her shoulders and joined the boys with building the pillowfort, leaving Lance hanging with his explanation of our awesome costume. I smiled at his defeated state when Pidge walked away without a single glance back, with no care in the world. Scratch that, she had zero fucks to give.

 

“Hey, _I_ like our costume. Your idea was awesome. Wanna help me with the snacks while they work with the fort?” I inched closer to his face so that the others couldn’t hear me when I whispered, “Lancey-Lance.”

 

He beamed at me. “Thought you’d never ask.”

 

All of the snacks and sodas had already been placed on the counter. Probably Adam or Shiro helping when I specifically told them to butt out of my party. They were not allowed to take part in my party. I knew they were both in the office working before they were leaving for their movie tonight, so now was as any good a time to sneak in a kiss at last.

 

Lance opened the fridge, his bad habit whenever he was over at our place. He was always lost in thought whenever he opened the fridge, staring at nothing, not knowing why he opened it to begin with. Like did he want food, or was he warm and needed to cool himself off at the end of October?

 

I stood next to him, looking at the packed-fridges contents with what I wanted to say was a lot of expired food and groceries, but that was Shiro’s doing. No one was allowed to touch the inside of the fridge without his consent. If something was expired, it wasn’t gone bad, but instead something that might be used for a dish later. Let’s say whenever he mentions he used any expired food we all have take-out that day.

 

“Hey, you.” I turned my face to look at his focused blue gaze inside the fridge.

 

The others were still working on the fort, hearing their loud screams and laughs from the living room. I took a chance when Lance craned his neck at me and I planted a quick kiss on his mouth. Damn, it had been too long, and I decided to dive back in for one more kiss until we heard a loud cough behind us.

 

“Pidge!” I almost screamed her name to get Lance’s attention to stand up, and quick. “What can we help you with? Some expired milk? Or how about some expired cheese, or as Shiro likes to call it, blue cheese.” I held the old, stinky cheese and held it out to her, but she only made a bored look at us not showing any indication of catching us in the act.

 

“Fort’s ready, we were wondering where the snacks were. You two too busy _discussing_ something again?” Pidge made her way to the counter to grab the untouched snacks.

 

“Keith wanted to know how I got undeniably good taste in toothpaste. He thought my breath smelled diviine!” Lance sing songed as we carried the rest of the snacks and sodas to the living room where we found Hunk in his Stranger Things costume as Dustin, and James in his Spider Man costume all set to watch some horror movies.

 

“Shut up, McClain. Your breath doesn’t smell that good. It mostly smells like spearmint gum, seriously, do you never change gum flavour.” I tried to sound annoyed, but he did use a delicious tasting toothpaste, and he must not change it at all, not the gum either for that matter.

 

Ryan had our first movie in his hand ready to pop it into the Playstation 4. “Seriously, why aren’t these movies on Netflix? They’re old as fuck, and Netflix’s range goes from bad movies, to old-as-fuck movies and like two new movies.” He chuckled as he popped _Night of the living dead_ in the console.

 

“Hah! I know right! Alright, let’s get ready to be consumed by zombies!” Lance found a spot on the far left on the inside of the pillowfort, saving a spot for me to sit next to him. He smiled to himself, and to me when I scooched in close to him, our hips touching to make wiggle room for the others.

 

The fort was made out of the sofa pillows and covers from my room and Lance had to put his own touch to it by hanging fairy lights around it. So when it was completely dark in the room, the lights will turn on in case any of us _pussies_ , his word, not mine, won’t feel scared.

 

I didn’t mind the fairy lights though, I knew Lance wanted to put them up because he bought them for me, and I still hadn’t opened them up which I could only assume made him prove a stupid point that they look great when they’re turned on and does not look girly at all. We’ll see about that when the sun goes down, I thought.

 

When the movie title appeared on the screen, I felt my heart-rate pick up. I hated, absolutely despised scary movies. Tonight was no exception, even if it meant I got to almost cosy up into my best friend, and that we were celebrating a day of fright and candy. I still hated them as much that I wouldn’t have mind if the floor cracked in two and sucked me into the pits of hell. Anything would be better than watching four movies about monsters killing people and so forth.

 

Still, Lance loved them, and he promised to take care of me while we watched the movies. He even promised he wouldn’t laugh at me if I felt the need to cover my eyes. Like right now as a zombie grabbed a lady’s face and mutilated it with his mouth, he was digging his mouth in her brains now. Lovely, just fucking lovely.

 

The others were glued to the screen, except for Hunk, he had his very own cover to hide beneath and peek up from time to time, which was never. He had found a bowl full of snacks and made his own party under the cover.

 

Lance and I were sharing a cover, something that warmed my whole body, as hot as furnace to be honest since the others were sitting right there and if they pulled it away, they would find our hands entwined tightly like a french braid. I was not going to let go of his hand once unless he needed to go to the bathroom, or change the movie. Aside from that, his hand was mine to find comfort in since I couldn’t kiss him.

 

We were on movie number three, and Adam and Shiro had left the house to go see their own scary movie. The sun had also gone to sleep, and the fairy lights had been given power. Fine, Lance was right, like usual lately. The fairy lights were gorgeous, and he was going to help me tape them to my bookshelf tomorrow morning.

 

“Why the hell do screenwriters think that having the actor or actress yell hello when they hear a scary sound in a fucking dark room is a good idea? They gonna fucking get killed, that’s what happens when they sound the alarm to the killer!” James screamed to the tv, the girl in the movie now being stabbed to death by Scream.

 

“See! I was right.” He proved his point.

 

“No shit, Sherlock. It’s an old trope, and it fucking works. If you hate it, then go write your own scary movie.” Lance squeezed my hand in anger at the brown haired boy, grabbing popcorn with his free hand.

 

“Scary movies are so predictable, that’s what they are. If you have sex in the movie: you die. You a jock? You dead. Hey, you’re a gorgeous blonde with big tits: time to diiiie.” Pidge hollered at the tv, punching at the tv screen being way too invested in these movies even though she had recently complained about them.

 

“Can you shut the fuck up and enjoy the movie. Or you can join Hunk’s party.” Lance smiled, not being serious since he had seen the movies a thousand times before, but he hadn’t see them with me yet, and wanted to enjoy my scared reaction as a first time viewer.

 

During a very quiet scene, I felt my head inch closer to the screen, anticipating what would happen next. In that moment, the killer jumped forth and the music turned loud causing me to jump and throw both of my hands up revealing Lance and I holding hands, but he let go right in time, his mouth quirking awkwardly at me.

 

Luckily, no one had caught us as they were too invested in the movie, too. Everyone was too focused and laughing at James screaming like a little girl to notice that Lance and I had joined hands. A sigh of relief still left my throat when I knew we were safe. Hiding that Lance and I were doing things friends normally didn’t do together had turned out to be harder than we thought.

 

Words were scrolling down the screen when our fourth movie finally ended. James and Hunk had fallen asleep, and Pidge had gone home after movie number three because of curfew. Ryan had left the fort and was stretching from the long evening of splattered brains and torn limbs.

 

“I think I’m gonna drive these sleepyheads home. Lance, need a lift?” Ryan asked him, but Lance shook his head, his arm looping around my shoulder.

 

“I’m sleeping here. We’re going trick or treating with Rubes tomorrow.” He smiled brightly at our star athlete. Ryan’s brown eyes moved to me when he caught my smiling face at the loud mouthed delinquent.

 

“All right, then. Remember to use protection.” Ryan joked, but both of our cheeks had turned red at his remark.

 

He started laughing loudly at our fidgeting and shouting at him to shut up, and that we weren’t like that, trying to lie our asses off for him to understand that we weren’t like that at all. We were just two best friends who sort of liked to kiss, not much else, definitely not, that. I gulped at the thought, and remembered that Lance had told me he was a virgin.

 

“You guys going to use the fort?” Ryan asked, a wicked look finding his handsome face.

 

I shook my head. “Nope, Lance is gonna sleep on the sofa so we need to put everything back.” My hand gestured for him to continue his evil ploy.

 

“Great.” Ryan cooed, and destroyed the fort on top of the two sleeping boys who were now screaming at the destruction happening on top of them thinking a murderer or a zombie was trying to kill them.

 

“Come on you pussy.” Ryan slapped James, “Hunk, we’re leaving, it’s getting late.” James and Hunk got up, looking sleepy and ready to find their beds once Ryan drove them home.

 

Lance and I stood by the front door waving our friends goodbye, and thanking them for tonight. When the door closed, Lance didn’t give me a chance to breathe as he attacked me with his mouth, pushing me into the collapsed fort on the floor. His lips tasted like coke, and m&ms.

 

When he was able to get a couple kisses through, I pushed his face up with my hand, muffled words leaving those peachy lips. “Lance! I can’t understand what you’re saying. We need to put everything back before my dads come home. I promised them.”

 

He stopped talking. I pulled my hand slowly away from his face, but I knew it was no use when his mouth found mine as soon as I moved my hand away. It felt so good to finally kiss him again. At school, we turned out to be too scared to try out our new call signs whenever we wanted to make-out. So we decided to save our kissing to after school, but then whenever we were at the mall, the arcade or even at home, we felt too chickened to kiss, or even hold hands, scared we might get caught.

 

Today was the first time we felt confident enough to kiss again, and hold hands. I think it was due to withdrawals. We had gone almost three days without anything, and kissing in the fridge was so freeing, the same with holding hands during all four movies.

 

“Lance, save it till after we’ve cleaned up. Okay?” I kissed the tip of his nose, then pushed him away to start cleaning the room.

 

“Let’s make a bet.” Lance suggested.

 

“Again? Okay, what kind of bet?” I asked, arching a black brow at him, crossing my arms.

 

“If we can get this place all tidied up before Adam and Shiro make it home, I get to sleep in your bed.” Lance stuck his tongue out like a child.

 

“What? You want to switch places? I don’t mind sleeping on the couch.” I started, but Lance shook his head at me.

 

“Nope. I mean. I sleep in your bed, with you.” Lance smiled, green specks floating like crazy in the bright blue ocean.


	40. Question

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seriously, these two boys have my whole freaking heart <3

“We’re home.” Shiro shouted from the front door. 

 

“Wow, the place looks great. Even better than when we left.” Adam walked past Shiro finding Lance and I planted on the sofa in each our corner watching a disney movie because four horror movies in one night was enough horror for the next ten years. 

 

My face felt flushed knowing that Lance won his bet and that he’ll sneak into my bed tonight to sleep next to me. I thought we were only going to go as far as kissing, some hand holding to take it the farthest we can with our friendship, but guess we were going even further than planned. 

 

“Guys, it’s late. Might think about hitting the hay if you’re going to take Rubes trick or treating tomorrow.” Shiro grabbed Adam’s jacket to hang up. 

 

“Yeah, we’ll go soon.” I said, trying to hide my warm face still thinking about how the hell Lance was going to be able to sneak past the master bedroom. Their room was right next to the stairs, he’d have to be a fucking ninja to avoid making a single squeak up those stairs. 

 

“Yo, you guys don’t mind me crashing in Keith’s room? We still have a lot we want to talk about, and if you old guys are gonna sleep, then we don’t wanna keep ya up.” Lance shot a finger gun at my dads, but Adam made a strict look, his gaze finding mine within a second. 

 

“Sorry, Lance. I feel better knowing you’re down here sleeping. You boys are hormonal teens, I don’t want you guys finding out you want to experiment your friendship. You dig?” Adam punched his hand at Lance, an evil smirk directed at him. 

 

“Adam! We’re not doing anything like that, oh my God! We’re just friends. Lance can sleep on the floor, jeez.” I freaked out, knowing perfectly well that we were doing exactly what Adam was insinuating and it was eating my insides like moths. Get it? Since I’m wearing a moth costume - fine, forget it.

 

Shiro cut in. “Sorry, Keith. Your father and I have discussed this, and under our roof we like to know you guys aren’t up to any funny business at night. Besides it’s only sleeping, you guys don’t need to be in the same room to sleep. You can talk a bit more here then say good night?” He smiled warmly, letting his husband be the strict parent this round. 

 

An aggravated noise left my throat, one I had never made in front of my parents before. Before I could open my mouth, Lance opened his. “Okay, so you two can fuck each other in your room while you know I’m sleeping here on the couch? Wouldn’t it be better to know I’m up stairs, in Keith’s room, sleeping on the floor, us not doing anything funny besides talking, and you two can like fuck in peace knowing I can’t hear the two of you.” He winked at them, then caught my shocked face of horror. 

 

“Lance, you did not?” I tried real hard to choke down a laugh since it was kind of hilarious and daring of the imbecile, but Adam was not having it, he was so dead panned on this matter and I had no idea why. I told him nothing was happening between us, and that my crush on Lance was one-sided, something I still think is. 

 

“He does have a fair point, honey.” Shiro giggled, knowing they were definitely going to fuck tonight, _yack._

 

“Babe, please be quiet for a moment." Adam straightened his glasses, slamming the door frame lightly with his fist. "We need to knock some sense into an eighteen year old and a seventeen year old. Who are not married, who do not own this house, and if they want to live to see daylight, then I would advise them to just listen to me and sleep in their own frickin' rooms. Is it so hard to understand? We are talking principles, I’m not forcing the two of you to keep your traps from sucking each other or anything, but I have a gut feeling and I’m sticking to it.” Adam breathed heavily out, his hazel eyes striking the two of us behind his glasses. 

 

“Woah, now I really agree that Lance should go upstairs, that was kind of hot, honey.” Shiro whispered in Adam’s ear, but it was loud enough for all of us to hear. 

 

Lance cracked his knuckles, his signature smile finding his golden, beautiful face. “Okay. You win this round daddy principal. Was fun, can’t wait for round two.” He challenged, his teeth hidden behind his smile this time, the green specks in his eyes flying all over the place ready for a new challenge to come his way in the future. 

 

“I win every round, McClain. Try as you might, It’s in my nature.” Adam smirked, that evil anime persona coming back creating a loud groan from my gut. 

 

“Now get the hell out, we’re not sleepy yet!” I threw a pillow at my dads, like the teenager I was. 

 

They took the hint and left the room, the door to their bedroom making a loud slamming noise. “Adam’s going to thank me later, the look on Shiro’s face when he made that speech, whoo mami….They are going to fuuuuck.” Lance sing-songed, pretending to wave away any sweat on his face. 

 

I made a new groan. “Please, those are my dads you’re talking about. I do not need that picture in my head.” The picture did bore its way into my mind, and I reminded myself to kill or bury a certain delinquent alive later. 

 

“Any time, Mullet.” Lance gave me the finger, but I felt flushed and scared that one of my dads was going to walk right in on us sucking each other’s faces, as Adam had so kindly stated he thought we were going to do alone in my room. 

 

Granted, we were planning on sucking face, but he didn’t need to know that. Butterflies were swarming in my stomach, and moths were eating up the rest of my body knowing how much I wanted to throw my mouth on top of Lance’s, but the risk was way too high at the moment. 

 

“Keeeeith?” Lance voice’s finally reached me, and I craned my neck to him. 

 

He had moved closer to me, his hands planted next to each side of my hips, his lips so close I could smell the spearmint bubblegum he just popped into his mouth all set to kiss my brains out. His words, not mine, I prefer the term kissing without any brain splatter present. 

 

“Yes…uhm, who are you again, Mr. Lampshade?” I snickered at him, pretending he was a stranger, a lampshade stranger to be exact. Yes, we were weird. 

 

Lance planted his forehead on mine, the corners of his mouth shooting up, his pearly whites blinding me. All I could focus on were those eyes, I could get lost in them forever, trying to catch each and every fleck of green to make fairy lights out of them. 

 

“Well, if you have to know, Mr. Moth.” He said in a low voice that suddenly made my whole body shiver. He looked behind him, revealing he was a bit scared too to get caught, but the coast was clear. “The name’s actually Lance, and I was giving you the finger a moment ago. So get your moth instincts in gear, I’m a sexy lampshade god dammit. Rules are rules.” He smiled causing the moths, not the costume I was wearing, but the pretend ones in my body to flap like crazy. 

 

“Well, since we’re strangers, you wouldn’t know that I am very good at following the rules.” I kiss him, hard, so hard, that our sudden intake of breath was louder than the TV, and I had to push him away to make sure that Adam and Shiro didn't hear us when our lips collided. 

 

“They didn’t hear us, Keith. Now come back here, my lips miss you.” Lance pouted, grabbing my face and kissing me, his tongue now finding mine. 

 

When we released, Lance made himself comfortable like a cat between my legs. It was funny because he always called me the kitten, but look who’s talking. “Hey, Lance. Why are you so clingy? I thought we were going to talk now that we’re alone?” I asked him, threading both our hands together as he laid smacked in between my legs.  

 

“No special reason.” I recognized that tone. It was the one he used whenever he was lying or hiding something. 

 

“Spit it out or I’m going to bed.” I said, but his hold on my hands gripped tighter. 

 

“Hell no, it’s only midnight, we can watch another movie.” He pouted, tipping his head up so that I could see that adorable pouty face of his. 

 

“Laance.” I whispered in an angry tone, one I knew he hated whenever I used it on him. 

 

“Fine. I saw you with Ryan before you guys saw I had come. It only meant that he had come by earlier than me. Are you guys a serious thing or something?” Lance was playing with my fingers, trying to sound nonchalant. But Lance McClain, jealousy be thy name. 

 

“Oh my god, you are so jealous.” I snickered, nuzzling the back of his soft head, but then I suddenly had the urge to ask him something. “Wait, what does that mean, Lance?” I let go of our gripped hands, kicking him away from my lap so that we could face each other. 

 

Shiro and Adam were still in their bedroom, the music on pretty loudly in their room. Gross. Lance was so right about them going to fuck. I made another groan at the thought of my dads...doing things together, but I shook it away as fast as Usain Bolt. 

 

“Seriously though, what are we? You clearly feel jealous and that has to mean something, right?” I boldly asked him. I knew this was a conversation that would pass between us in the future, but knowing Lance was jealous of me, that had to indicate he had some form of romantic feelings for me. That could mean I could confess how I truly felt for him, and this charade of ours could end before it even started. 

 

“What do mean, what are we? We’re friends, friends who like being around each other. Who know everything about each other, who can point out all of their favorites, their flaws. Who know their tones of voice, their fears, their preferences, their...I’m going to stop because what we are, Keith Jonathan Kogane….” He said my full name again, something no one knows, only my dads. “is that we are best friends.” His smile catches me and makes my heart beat like a jackhammer. 

 

We were so not best friends. Best friends do not make their hearts beat like that, or make their insides turn into mush, or can cause a meltdown by looking at the other person with those eyes, and that fucking smile. Best friends do  _ not  _ fucking do that. 

 

“Are you sure about that? You do know that we kissed a few days ago. Like really kissed. All we’ve been doing since then is kiss, Lance! And you were even my _ first  _ kiss. To me, that means something.” I admitted, but I knew he knew that. 

 

“I was, wasn’t I..” His face turned into mush. “I could be another first, too” He tried to joke, but that was a serious matter. One that Adam was afraid we were going to do tonight of all nights. Too soon, that would be way too soon. He had nothing to worry about there. 

 

But, I did get Adam. I had never been in love before, and now that I was hopelessly something for this self-absorbed, gorgeous, obnoxious, kind dimwit I call my best friend, Adam could finally be a parent with me. And it was obvious he wanted to try out the strict dad card on me since he knew how I felt about Lance. 

 

“Shut up.” I shoved him lightly on the shoulder, turning up the volume a few notches in case two older men decided to eavesdrop on their son. “I want to know Lance. How do you feel about me? Like for real. Do you only see me as your best friend who you like to lip lock with from time to time, or..?” 

 

His smile had gone crooked, eyes boring into my own until he made a sigh and rolled them. “Shit, Keith. Pinning me like this, okay fine.” His crooked smile grew wide, not letting this become a problem for him. “This is super forward. But, yeah sure, okay.” Lance sounded struggled, but, he smiled showing how calm he was, almost happy that I asked him that question. 

 

His face lit up the entire room with his blinding smile now as it opened revealing all of his teeth. “Fuck, yes! I’m so glad you took that bullet, Mullet. I’ve been terrified to ask you that question because we’re friends…And I don’t want to lose you...” He made a gesture with his hands in between them. “But...like...yeah we do kiss...we hold hands...I love laying in your lap….I want to fucking hold you close to me….protect you even though you tell me you don’t need saving, but every fucking time your face goes pale, my heart fucking breaks for you because I know I can’t do anything to help other than be there for you.” 

 

My face was in his hands now, my eyes catching the sheen that had me drowning. “That’s enough, more than enough. Having you here like this with me, Lance. It’s all I need from you.” I kiss his hand, doesn’t matter which one because I kiss the other one right afterwards. “Does this mean you might see me as something more than a friend?” I asked, feeling how bunched my cheeks became in his grasp. 

 

He chuckled. “Best friends?” 

 

I frowned, but he continued to chuckle, leaning in to kiss my lips. “I’m messing with ya, kitten. Yeah, I’ve been crushing on ya for a while. A long, long, while. You were too brainless to notice all the signs.” He mumbled, releasing my face. 

 

“Excuse me, I’m your tutor. I like to think that I have the brains in this relationship.” I smirked wickedly at him. 

 

“Hell no, you’re all beauty, Mullet.” Lance turned around forcing himself to lay in my lap again. 

 

I find the cover and drape it over us, finally feeling like the couple I’d been wanting us to be for a while. “Call it even? 50/50?” 

 

“60/40, I’m prettier than you.” Lance negotiated, shifting around to fit himself perfectly in my lap and watch the tv at the same time.  

 

“Ugh, fine. Let’s watch the movie then go to bed.” I complained back to him. 

 

“Wait, Keith. Did we figure out what we are?” Lance rises, facing me. 

 

“We didn’t. Continue what we have for the meantime then when the right time comes we figure it out then? Can we both agree that we have feelings for each other, ones that are more on the romantic side, but instead of calling ourselves for boyfriends, we continue to be best friends so that we don’t overcomplicate anything?” I asked, but I knew everything I just suggested was the pure definition of overcomplicated. Still, knowing Lance and his problem with his parents, I didn’t want to make his relationship with them even worse. 

 

Lance was quiet, not paying attention to the movie. He was too fidgety, legs moving all over the place under the covers. After some thought, he opened his mouth, “Can we call each other boyfriends in secret? And best friends in front of everyone else?” He asked me. 

 

“I like that, Lancey-Lance.” I kiss the top of his head, and go back to watching the movie. 


	41. Stairs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long chapter - hope that's alright. I might not be able to post every day this week due to so much work...

_ Moana  _ ended with the credits rolling down the tv screen. The lights had been turned off all except for the light from the screen. Lance had fallen asleep in my lap, the same went for the rest of my house. If I wanted to, I could sneak Lance with me up the stairs since I had to make my way up there anyways. We would have to time our legs so that it didn’t sound like two pairs of feet were walking on them, but I’m sure Adam would sense it, even in his sleep. If not, Shiro would. 

 

“Lance….” I pushed him gently on his shoulder with my hand at first. “Laaance.” I whispered in his ear. 

 

No budge. He was a heavy sleeper, so that meant only one thing. I pinched his nose, hoping he wouldn’t cause a dramatic scene thinking he was going to suffocate or anything. Reevaluating who’s nose I wanted to pinch, I went with a different tactic. 

 

My head tipped forward, lips resting gently on his forehead. I let my lips linger for a couple seconds until I saw a smile make its way on a tan face. He made a low, tired groan, eyes trying to pry open. Glancing at the clock, I noticed it was almost 2AM. Not that late, but, Adam and Shiro always had pancakes ready on Sundays pretty early. 

 

“Morning already...no…” Lance whined, stretching like a cuddly kitten between my legs. 

 

“I need to go up to my room, Lance. It’s only 2AM. More time to sleep.” I smiled when he tipped his cute, sleepy face up to mine. 

 

He frowned at my happy face. “Don’t leave me, kitten. We made a bet, remember?” At that he took the opportunity to flip me the bird, showing his true colors. That guy. 

 

“Fuck off, McClain. I’d love to join you on the sofa, but we should respect Adam if we want any future sleepovers.” I kissed him on the forehead again, warmth tingling my cheeks when my lips moved closer to his ear, “Boyfriend.” I whispered feeling the slight curl of his own lips. 

 

Understanding found my delinquent’s face. Still, it was prominent that he was not having it as he made a large adorable pout with his face, and muttered complaints while moving to free me. 

 

“Stop complaining. I’ll see you in the morning. Fight off some zombies for me, okay.” I pulled him in to me. My lamp-shade wearing boyfriend. Was it okay for me to parade that word around in my head every two seconds? Because that’s exactly what’s happening in my mind while my boyfriend, holy fuck I love saying that in my head, is still pouting like a small child between my legs refusing to fucking move. 

 

“But, I didn’t get to do my night time skin care routine or brush my teeth, and my clothes are in your room. Seriously, Mullet, it would make a lot of sense if I just went upstairs with you.” Lance was a smooth talker, alright. 

 

He had a fair point. All of his things were in my room, and he should brush his teeth. Dental hygiene is important, especially to Shiro so if they catch us going up the stairs we could pin it on that. 

 

“You’re lucky you’re pretty, McClain. Come on, and be very, very quiet.” I held a finger to my lips, but he snickered at me and kissed that finger. 

 

“Trust me, Kogane. If they had the night I thought they did, they’re out like a light. Nothing’s going to wake them except for their alarm clock, or a fucking burglar.” Lance made his way to the stairs, not having a single care in the world, or for any prying fathers who thought I had a sex life. 

 

We both tried to walk up the stairs like ninjas, but Lance was Lance. I held my finger to my mouth again to get it in his thick skull for the umpteenth time that he had to stop giggling. It was cute as hell, and infectious, his face looking all adorable with his eyes closed, and peachy lips curled like that, but that didn’t help our situation. We wanted to live through the night, and being caught on the stairs was not how I wanted to go. 

 

“Lance…” I whispered annoyingly at him while he was still giggling for each step he took up the stairs and it made a low squeak. He could read my stare behind his back like a mind-reader, and knew how much this was irritating me. Seriously, if this were a horror movie, no would have the decent mind to save us, we’d be dead or slashed on the spot, and it would all be because of someone’s adorable snicker. 

 

“Oh, Keith. Be glad I can’t see your face, I’d get us killed the second I decide to jump you with my mouth.” He said in a very low whisper, reading my mind, one that earned a few points with me taking this seriously. 

 

It was his idea to begin with, wanting to sleep in my bed. Of course, I didn’t back away from the idea, I just knew who my parents were, and that only meant a boatload of trouble for the both of us. He should have thought past what could be the consequences of our little mission happening in the Shirogane-West-Kogane household. Once we are caught, and I promise we will be caught, he’ll understand that I was right all along and regret not listening to me. Oh, the look on his face, it’ll be priceless, and definitely horrifying. 

 

We made it to the top of the stairs, a quiet sigh escaping the both of us as we made our way to the bathroom. Lance made one step, and we both heard a new creak. My body started to tremble, hoping to dear God that it was a flesh-eating zombie. 

 

“Keith? Lance? What’s going on?” We both heard Shiro whisper our names from the bottom of the steps. 

 

A brand new sigh of relief was made when we heard it was Shiro’s voice, and not Adam’s. Shiro because he was the more accepting of the two when Lance had his little spectacle before bed time. 

 

“Hey, Shiro...uhm..we both fell asleep on the couch, and Lance had left his things in my room. He was only going to get them, and brush his teeth. I promise.” I tersely said, hoping he fell for the bait and decided to go to bed. 

 

He didn’t budge. Instead, he wore a smirk that said  _ you can’t fool me, boys, I’ve been a horny teenager, too.  _ Despite me being a horny teenager, we weren’t going to do anything that was borderline sexual, only kiss a little, fine, a whole lot. A lot, a lot. 

 

“I’ll wait down here. Adam’s awake, too and I think it would be better for me to be out here and not him. Don’t you two agree? Now get brushin’ then go to bed. I’ll see you in a bit, Lance.” Shiro smiled warmly in the dark, his white teeth glowing in the dark hall, but he looked more menacing than nice to say the least. Man, I really did wish it were a flesh-eating zombie now. 

 

My eyes narrowed to the tan boy who had turned around to give me a goofy look, but it didn’t work on me. As my brows cocked up to my forehead, my mouth pouted to the side to let him know that I was right, and that I was kind of bummed that our plan didn’t work out like we wanted. 

 

In the bathroom, Lance turned on the faucet and I carefully closed the door, then locked it. Lance’s blue eyes were turning into magnets when they were directed to me, pulling me in, closer, closer, bingo. He kissed me, and I felt his warm smile on my mouth. 

 

“Fuck, we were so close. So fucking close, Mullet.” He whined, his mouth still pressed against mine, tasting heavenly of spearmint gum. 

 

“We should change. I’ll cling to you even if you don’t look like a lampshade any more, McClain. You have that effect on me.” I said, a small giggle leaving me while I started undressing in front of my new boyfriend. 

 

“Damn it, Keith. You can’t just do that now of all times. We recently become boyfriends...” 

He whispered the word low, “and we can’t sleep in the same bed, and now here you are all ready to have a go at my hormones. Do you know what your mouth does to me when you kiss me? Now imagine what you do to me when you undress.” He steered his blue-green gaze to the sink and started brushing his teeth in a haste, trying to hide something from me. 

 

Well, Shiro and Adam were right. We were hormonal teenagers, and I think if we did sleep in the same bed, things could have escalated. Although, I wasn’t quite sure about that either. I know having the talk with Adam was the most embarrassing thing to ever happen to me in my eighteen years of living, but having the talk with Lance, my best friend and now turned boyfriend, I don’t think it would be all that bad. 

 

Luckily for me though, we didn’t need to have that talk yet. We were going solo tonight thanks to someone’s big feet squeaking all up the stairs like they just don’t care. I turned around, catching beautiful blue eyes in the mirror reflecting those green specks going haywire with affection. 

 

Water was still running in the sink, Lance’s face a look of worry suddenly. His eyes were still pinned to mine in the mirror. “Do you think Shiro knows about us, Keith?” He asked me, using my name for once letting me know that this was actually a serious matter. Which was something I agreed with. It was a serious matter, since I still wasn’t sure how public we were going with our new, new relationship. 

 

My eyes grew hazy at the thought of Shiro or Adam wanting to break us up, but I knew that would never be the case. Adam even pushed our little talk before homecoming, being able to force out that I had a huge crush on the tan, dimwit in front of me, who still had toothpaste dried on the corner of his lips.  _ Doofus _ , I thought. 

 

I smiled at him in the mirror. “Yeah. I’m super confident that both him and Adam are aware of us being more than friends, Lance.” The ocean was rising, but I waved a hand at him to calm down, “Don’t worry, doofus. Adam knew about my crush on you, he basically forced it out of me, knowing for a long time….I’m also sure that Shiro’s gonna wanna have a chat with me when you go back down.” I tried hard not to look worried in front of him. Shiro wasn’t the bad guy in this situation, Lance and I were more the bad guys thinking about what we might have done if he hadn’t woken up. 

 

Lance turned around to face me, sick of looking at my reflection. His eyes softened, one of his brows quirking up in a split second. This was his charmer face, one that was hard, extremely hard to steer away from. He had that kind of magic, and he never revealed those secrets. I didn’t mind, I would fall for them no matter what. 

 

“Well, then. Hope you make me look good for the Cap…” Then the worry came back to his face, “Fuck, he’s like super strict with you, and loves you more than anything in the world. He’s gonna want the best of the best for you...I won’t be good enough for you, Mullet. Damn, I don’t have the best grades, and the teachers hate me…” 

 

My lips find his cheek. “Shut up...he’ll hear you. Besides, everything you said is true. I’m going to tell Shiro exactly who you are to me.” I kiss the same cheek again, “That you’re a dimwit.” I kiss his other cheek. “Obnoxious.” I plant both of my hands on his face, dragging his head down for me to reach my lips to his forehead. “Self absorbed and overconfident as fuck.” I let my lips linger a second on his forehead before letting go and catching those eyes. 

 

“You’re mean.” He said, but was cut off when I placed a finger on his lips to shut up and let me finish. 

 

“But you’re kind.” I kiss his lips lightly, “Loving.” I kiss him again, “Devastatingly handsome.” I cooed at that earning that bubbly laugh from him, “And best of all.” I pull him in for a long, desirable kiss, letting it linger long before we release. “You’re mine. All mine.” I said at last, his golden face looking all drunkenly stupid with love. 

 

With the water still running now for a solid five minutes we heard a low voice outside the door. “Keeeeith…?” 

 

“Shit..he’s still waiting..” I grimaced, looking at Lance again feeling my heart beating rapidly causing my body to warm up in the already warm bathroom. “It’s getting really hot in here.” I point out, Lance waggling his brows at the fact. 

 

“I need to get down, or else your dad is gonna skin me alive, and I think you’d want a boyfriend who has his skin attached to his body.” He giggled, grabbing his things and opening the door to leave, but before he spills out he leans in once more to kiss me goodnight, whispering, “Night, Keith…I’ll see you later.” He sneaks in a quick kiss on my cheek, a heated flame burning its mark there. 

 

“Sorry! Lance and his stupid skin care routine takes forever.” I groaned from the top of the stairs to Shiro while Lance made his way down the steps, catching my dad’s gray eyes. 

“Captain.” Lance smirked at him, craning his head up to me. “Night, Mullet!” He waved his hand then disappeared in the living room. 

 

“Don’t let the zombies nibble on ya, McClain.” I yelled back, making my way in to my room, leaving the door open for my dad to take the hint and start this obvious chat. 

 

I heard footsteps stomping lightly on the stairs, making their way to my room. I had planted myself on my bed, not ready for bed or anything. My moth costume was traded out with shorts and a t-shirt, my hair in tangles, splaying all over the place on my shoulders. A cut would be needed pretty soon, but Lance hated the idea of me getting a haircut since then he couldn’t call me Mullet. I needed to remind myself to call the hairdresser in the morning, a half smile finding my face at the thought of Lance seeing me with short hair. 

 

“That’s a nice look on you, Keith.” I heard Shiro from the door opening, his kind face finding mine as he made his way to sit next to me on my bed, closing the door behind him. 

 

“What my pjs?” I joked, but it wasn’t funny, knowing that he meant as I was thinking about someone sleeping, hopefully, soundly downstairs and not being incarcerated and interrogated by another past delinquent. 

 

“Adam’s not going to bite his head off, is he?” My brows furrowed at Shiro, a low chuckle leaving him when I asked him about Adam. 

 

Even though Adam was the one who pushed us together, and made me realize how fucking long I was taking to finally give in to my feelings, taking that leap. Man, how grateful I am for thinking with my intellect for once, and doing exactly what I thought would be the right decision, and it landed me a gorgeous, idiotic but overly smart best friend as a boyfriend. 

 

“No, he’s not going to bite anyone’s head off, but he’s going to get the 4-1-1 on you and Lance after I’m done with you.” He smiled, cracking his knuckles waiting for me to say something. 

 

I tipped my head forward, waiting for him to ask me something. In that moment of dread, staring at Shiro’s happy face knowing that he knows about Lance and I, I felt like packing my bags and leaving for a holiday in the sun again. Man, the sun and the universe must be tired of my visits. 

 

“Say something…” I urged him, muttering under my breath, embarrassed by him staring at me like I had won first prize or something. 

 

“I think you have something to tell me, Keith. I’m happy for you two, know that.” Shiro beamed, his gray eyes twinkling from the light on my desk. 

 

“Thanks. We sort of made it official not long ago. But, uhm...no one knows and we’re keeping it under the radar for a while. His parents...they….they don’t know he’s bi.” I bite my inner cheek, hoping it was alright for Lance that I told Shiro he was bi. I know, or I’m positive he hadn’t come out at school yet, using the word chica for both sexes whenever he talked about in the past who he made out with, and now the thought of him making out with anyone else was giving me bursts of rage in my bloodstream. 

 

“Keith, you okay? You look like someone stole your favorite ice cream.” Shiro planted a firm hand on my shoulder. 

 

“Fine, I’m fine. I really like Lance and now that we’re together, I don’t want to lose him. So, can you and Adam keep this a secret until we’re ready to make it public.” I said, hoping he understood the situation Lance was in and how it would help us figure out and give us more time to think things through and how we wanted to move on with our relationship. 

 

“Are you guys going to tell Pidge and Hunk?” He then asked, which was something I had completely forgotten, them being our closest friends and everything. 

 

Pidge and Hunk were important to both of us, but I wasn’t sure how they would handle the information once it was brought to the table. Hunk was peaceful with his steady girlfriend, Shay, and if he found out Lance and I were together, he’d might shout that he wants us to double date and then the whole world would find out if he said that out loud during lunch. We couldn’t risk that. 

 

Then there was Pidge. Did she know anything about love? Except for her love for games, she’d never shown any interest in another person. Heck, I wasn’t sure if she felt that way for humans, she never talked about it, and the topic never came up. Maybe it would be best to spare her this surprise for a while, or not tell her at all, let her calculations be good for math, and not for figuring out how to hold on to love. 

 

“Keith?” Shiro woke me up from my hard thinking. 

 

“Yeah, uhm...we haven’t had the time to discuss that much of our relationship. All of this happened pretty much without warning. I mean, I kissed Lance only a few days ago, and we’re both new to this..” 

 

Shiro held up a hand, nodding his head, short black bangs swifting up and down with him. “I understand completely. I’m happy you told me, and Adam’s going to be thrilled. He’s been rooting for you two. And I guess you understand why he was strict with you earlier.” He smiled warmly at me. 

 

“Yeah, I get it, but we weren’t going to do….” I was too embarrassed to even say the word in front of my father, especially when his smile was twitching into a low laugh. 

 

“Well, you never know. Young love is the best kind of love. That rushing feeling of something new and exciting, I’ve been there too. Trust me though, the feeling I have now, with your dad, it’s even better than the best kind of love. Look forward to it, Keith.” Shiro ruffled my hair, then kissed the top of my head before he said good night, leaving my room quietly. 


	42. Nightmare

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Whoops, some angst heading your way...sort of ;P

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so happy for all of the positive responses for this fic! Do continue to ask me questions or just comment what you think. 
> 
> I don't have a set schedule for uploads, but I try to upload as much as I can and try to be at least five chapters ahead of you guys. (Right now I'm 8, but I did a lot of writing yesterday and boiii )

It was happening. Over and over again, they happened. The nightmares. I never had control over them whenever they invaded my dreams. Sleep had become my worse enemy when I was younger, and still is from time to time. The nightmares only occurred once in a while today compared to every time I fell asleep when I was a little kid after the incident. 

 

Blinding heat. Suffocation. Death. Pain. So much pain. The images flooded my brain while I slept, making me feel like I was drowning, gasping desperately for air every time I woke up from the memory I called a nightmare today. His face always appeared whenever the nightmare decided to return for a random night. It never went away; the way he screamed my name, the way he screamed Shiro’s name, the way he told us to get out as fast as possible, to leave him; trapped, helpless, dying. 

 

Air. I needed air. 

 

I woke up gasping, feeling the tight constriction in my throat, the hot tears running quickly down my cheeks, and a warm, heavy arm draped over my upper body, pulling me in, keeping me safe.

 

“Keith...Keith, are you alright? Hey, hey...breathe, breathe, it was just a nightmare. I’m here.” I heard Lance whisper in my ear, soothing me, calming my rapid heart beat. 

 

“Lance.” I swallowed, saying his name with a forced intake of breath. “You’re here...what are doing….” I take another deep inhale, “here?” I exhaled roughly through my nose, staring at the dark contours of his face. 

 

“Told you I’d see you soon. Are you okay? You were mumbling in your sleep, asking to help him, then you were crying and I didn’t know what to do…” Lance sounded helpless, petting my face with his warm, large hand. It was just what I needed after reliving the memory, a memory I hadn’t seen in a while. 

 

Usually, It was always her face that was jammed in my mind. Whenever something sharp caught my eye, I would think of her, then break down and almost faint. However, whenever _he_ appeared, only in my dreams, I would feel everything, relive everything, hear everything. And every time the nightmare haunted my dreams, I always wanted to die. Because he died, and it was all my fault, and I couldn’t save him. Damn it all to hell, I couldn’t save him. 

 

“I’m fine, Lance...I’m.” I was still at a loss for air, praying desperately for my lungs to function normally, but his face was still so clear in my mind, it was like looking in a mirror except someone had turned the clock forward twenty years. 

 

“You’re not fine. This is just like whenever you see something sharp, or think about your birth parents, Keith. This is serious. How long have these nightmares been going on?” Lance’s hand was still gently stroking my cheek while we both laid in my bed in the dark. He leaned in for a quick kiss on the lips to soothe me more, and man did that help. I felt the rush of my blood calming down more and more for each kiss his lips planted on my skin, the beat of my heart picking up its pace again, but not because of the memory but rather the thought that my boyfriend, Lance, had wiggled his way in under my covers without an axe murderer on his heels shouting for him to get back down stairs. 

 

He was right, though. I wasn’t fine. Ever since the incident, my life has been topsy turvy; an unpredictable roller coaster of dread, of me looking twice whenever I saw a sharp glint of something and thought about the sharp edge that sunk into my own skin, or a blazing flame of red reminding me of someone shouting to get me out while trapped behind a closed, backed up door.

 

With Lance by my side, the campfire we made the day we first kissed was the first time I felt like myself again. It was the first time in ten years that even the hint of an ember or a flicker of heat didn’t make my body feel unsettled. Instead, for the first time in a long, long time, I felt safe, and I was starting to feel love. Not that unconditional love you have for your family, but that feeling of trust again, that feeling of being wanted again. With Lance in my life, those lost feelings were finally finding their way back to me, and I had this dimwitted delinquent lying next to me to thank. 

 

“You know, Lance. I don’t need you to save me all the time…” I began, but he made a low, long, nasal breath before he interjected with a fast whispered voice, he didn’t give me a chance at continuing what I wanted to tell him.

 

“No...fuck no. Now you listen here, Keith Jonathan Kogane.” His blue eyes turned into a roaring fire of blue, not a sight of green, “No matter how angry you get and how much this thing about your past destroys you, and you keep on telling me you don’t need any saving.” He kissed me, hard, a kiss we hadn’t tested out yet, one that was filled with devotion, tenderness, affection, friendship, love. I felt woozy when he released me, but he kept on going on with his speech, “I’ll still be here, whether you want to or not. I’ll kiss away the pain. Hold you, comfort you, talk to you, listen if that’s all it takes. I’ll be here, always, no matter what and no matter how difficult it is for you.” He grabbed hold of my body like it was something he never wanted to let go of. I was something he cherished, his best friend, his boyfriend, and boy, did he know how to make me cry. 

 

I laughed quietly in his arms, my body shaking making him shake along with me. “Can I get everything you just said written down as a quote to hang on the fridge?” I joked, but felt a tender kiss on the nape of my neck, feeling his smile curling behind me. 

 

“You want that in my amazing handwriting, too?” He laced his hand with mine, humming with delight when I bring our threaded hands up to my mouth, kissing his fingers passionately. 

 

“Thank you…” I sniff away some snot, feeling ridiculous and like a big baby, but he knew his words hit right home, and they were words I needed to hear. He knew me both inside and out. Even though we had only known each other for two and half months, they had become the most important two, almost three months of my life, and I had Lance McClain to thank for that. Had he not been a huge jerk and landed me in detention, I’d still be struggling with my inner demons. He swooped in my life like the spawn of satan, but damn, had he not swooped in...

 

I kiss his hand again, then feel him shifting around in the bed to pull me on top of his torso so that we could see each other eye to eye, nose to nose, mouth to mouth. He made me feel so fucking safe, and I didn’t need any saving when he was already on his way of doing that. 

 

“I found something under your pillow, Mullet.” Lance suddenly said, his signature grin emerging on his bronze face like he had a secret and wanted me to guess it. 

 

No, he did not? I had forgotten that that had been laying under my pillow all this time. He was never supposed to find out that I had it. It was only for me to keep and hold close to me whenever I felt down. We hated each other back then, how was I supposed to know two months later we would be sleeping in the same bed together? I wanted my bed to swallow me whole, feeling my cheeks turn into furnaces, and my body going uneasy when he pulled out the familiar piece of crumpled paper I snatched the first day we had detention together. The first day we actually had a conversation together, or an argument. Let’s just call it an ongoing argument where we shared words with each other. 

 

“No, you weren’t supposed to find that…” I hid my face in his chest, avoiding his cute turned smug face while he waved the paper with his poem on it in the air. 

 

“Come on, Mullet. I find it kind of cute. You stealing my poem even though you hated my guts, and wanted to chop me up and mail my body parts to random people. I could see it in those wonderful eyes of yours, how repulsed you were of me back then, but, you were curious, huh? Lancey-Lance managed to snag you in the end with his mysterious ways.” Lance felt smug as fuck with his low, try-hard sexy voice. 

 

All I felt like doing was push him off my bed, and lock my room to avoid having this conversation. Granted, he was my boyfriend now, and this shouldn’t feel as awkward as it did, but it felt awkward as hell, and I really, really didn’t want him to feel like he had the upper hand now. He always became an absolute prick when things went his way. Could have been one of the traits he possessed that made me into him, but he wasn’t going to find out about that. 

 

“Lance, it’s nothing. Can we forget that was under there and go back to sleep.” I pushed, but he was still waving his poem, wearing my favorite kind of smile, the cute one, and shaking his head rapidly no. 

 

“Hell no, you have my poem stashed under your pillow like it’s a big, fat, secret you’ve kept from the world. I’ve been looking everywhere for this. I don’t have another copy and my memory sucks ass, so I was never able to recreate what I wrote, and here it is, under my boyfriend’s pillow, all safe and sound.” His voice was gleeful, more happy and chippery than I wanted him to be, it was making me sick. 

 

He flicked my nose. “What I want to know, Mullet. Is why you took it, 'cause when you think about it, it was the first day we started….fighting, like literally throw words at each other, and then you snatch my poem. I would have understood if you threw it away all in the same day, but you kept it. Why?” He asked, but he didn’t look mad or anything, he was wearing a look of pure curiosity. That nosy brat, isn’t it enough to have him know that I like him now? 

 

“I dunno...you were this stupid ass jerk who had everyone fooled. You looked left to right and people swooned for you….the teacher’s hated you, but you always managed to get back on their good side as soon you opened your mouth, or smiled. You had everyone wrapped around your finger, and still portrayed yourself as this moron delinquent. I was curious to what you were writing that day in detention because I didn’t believe you were a moron, I had to get to the bottom and see if you were more than your looks and flirting, and you were.” I smiled, tipping my head up so that he could see my soft expression while I felt comfortable on top of him. 

 

“When I snatched the piece of paper, I was hoping for some kind of made up plan to how you were going to kill me, instead I found a bunch of Spanish words and had Adam read it out loud to me. It’s beautiful, the poem, Lance. Just like you are.” I had lifted myself up with my hands to look down at my wonderful new boyfriend, then dipped down to meet his lips with mine. 

 

Our lips parted, a small whine leaving me, but Lance had more to say, per usual, “I am a man with lovely words in my head...that sounded dumb. But...I need to confess something, Keith.” He tilted his head to the side, looking a small bit embarrassed. “I….I wrote that poem while thinking about you.” 

 

“Okaay…” I furrowed my brows at him to let him go on. 

 

“I’ve sort of well, this may not come as a surprise, but fuck…” He chuckled, thinking, “On my first day at GP, I walked into the classroom ready to impress the chicas, but all I could see was you sitting by your desk reading a book, and my whole throat felt tight. I felt my armpits start to sweat, and my heart jumping like crazy in my chest. It was a feeling I had never felt before, and it happened when I looked at you. But, do you remember on that first day, when I tried to make my way over to you to introduce myself? Remember what you said to me?” He pressed. His mouth had turned into a thin line, one of misery, I thought. 

 

I swallowed, the memory of Lance’s first day at GP not being a part of my brain. He was nothing to me during his first week of school, just a new guy at school who thought he was all that and it irritated me, and I wanted nothing, absolutely nothing to do with him. 

 

“I don’t remember, Lance...what...what did I say?” I asked him, feeling my heart clogging in my throat. 

 

“You said:  _ Don’t think you’re better than everyone else here, we have enough morons at this school _ .” He said low, a spear hitting the middle of my heart. “But then..” Lance smiled, “You started laughing knowing that I wasn’t a moron. You already knew who I truly was the moment I walked into the classroom, and I wanted you from the moment that laugh escaped your mouth.” 

 

“That was so mean of me, Lance. Fuck, how were you able to like me because of that? I was soooo mean to you! I feel like a worse jerk than you now.” I groaned, but laughed when he jabbed his fingers in my ribs. “Stop, we don’t want to wake my dads. They’ll kill us if they find you in my bed.” I turned to the door to see if we were still safe. We were, but for how long I wasn’t sure. 

 

“That’s easy, Keith. You saw right through my whole charade. Also, you knew I was better than everyone at GP, I didn’t need to think I was better when I was clearly already the best one. Plus, you called everyone else a moron, you didn’t direct the word at me. That’s why I liked you. You could see the good in me. You saw the real me, Mullet.” Lance said happily, kissing me again, and again, and again. “Oh, like Pidge and Hunk, they aren’t morons, they’re the best, but, I’m the best, best.” His smile was as present as the sun shining on the world behind my neck. 

 

“Can we stay like this forever? I know I’ve asked that before, but I want to stay in your arms forever. You make me feel like I belong. Like I’m worth something, Lance. I hate what’s out there, and I feel good with what’s right here.” I smiled, curled up in Lance’s arms.  

 

We went back to a spooning position in my bed. Lance curled behind me, his arms wrapped around my body, pulling me tightly into him. My eyes glanced at the clock and we still had a couple hours of sleep left before Lance had to tiptoe back down the stairs so that we won’t get caught and scolded at. We didn’t need Adam or Shiro’s long lectures on responsibility and safe sex and oh my god, I’m going to stop. That can happen another day. But right now, right here, we needed those two hours to last a lifetime. 


	43. November

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uploading a bit early today. Tomorrow's Norway's independence day so I won't be active at all bc at that. ^^

“Well, well, well…” Lance said with a smooth voice as I planted my big, fat A on his desk after lunch, releasing the biggest grin I could muster all day. “Looks like I have a secret to reveal. A promise is a promise.” He then cooed, the look on his face revealing more than a secret he was going to tell me. 

 

Yesterday had been a huge success. Ruby got to go trick or treating dressed as Moana with Lance and I in our Moth and Lampshade costumes, and she got so much candy. Unfortunately for us, the little monster didn’t know the concept of sharing, and all of her candy stayed put with her grubby little hands and Lance and I had to eat store bought candy and not trick or treating candy, which is so much better in my opinion. 

 

After my nightmare last night and talking with Lance in bed, since he was successful at sneaking into my room, we were able to sleep for the next two hours we had left which was a breath of fresh air and helped my anxiety all over again, per usual with that boy. He made everything better for the moment. We both like to think he was successful at tiptoeing back down the stairs to pretend to keep on sleeping on the couch since Shiro and Adam hadn’t mentioned anything during breakfast. 

 

Lance was his typical stupid self by giving me toothy grins whenever Shiro and Adam made a comment about the night before and the small argument we had with them before bed. He would turn his face to mine and waggle his brows like we were keeping a huge secret (which we were) and that we did something wrong behind their backs like criminals, which was sort of not true I like to think. All we did was sleep. And kiss. But, we were wearing t-shirts and shorts, it wasn’t like we were in our boxers or naked, so that little talk with Adam before Homecoming hasn’t been something of useful information quite yet. Hell, Lance and I have recently decided to be boyfriends, and not even public boyfriends for that matter.

 

We decided yesterday night to call each other for boyfriends, and we needed to break the news officially with my dads, even though Shiro already pushed it out of me, and then there was our two best friends, Pidge and Hunk. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to tell Pidge and Hunk about Lance and me being an item, but they still deserved to know, it was just the matter of keeping it a secret for the moment, or until Lance had the guts to come out to his parents, which was something that seemed absolutely terrifying after meeting them for the first time a week ago. 

 

I shook away those heavy thoughts for the meantime and took in the weather outside the window in class. November had marched in with a bang the day after Halloween, what with its biting cold winds and skeletal trees. Lance had bought a navy blue winter coat that he looked so handsome in and all I wanted to do was drag his face to mine and kiss him, and tell him how good he looked in his new coat, but right now, during history with Miss Allura, that didn’t seem like the appropriate thing to do. He’ll earn a kiss later when we were finally alone. 

 

My big, fat A was still resting on Lance’s desk, and we were given the rest of the period to work together on studying for finals. Miss Allura was click-clacking around the classroom helping other students with their questions, her clicking pink heels echoing the whole classroom. She was wearing a bright happy smile, something that didn't seem odd for her, but it did seem odd none the less. She had been acting less like herself lately, less strict to say it like that. If Lance called her by her nickname he had for her, she would blow it off with an embarrassed smile, and wave a delicate hand in his face. Then there was the fact that we both came late to class this morning and all she did was smile when we came into the room to find our seats, no icy glares that could tear your skin off. 

 

Forgetting about Miss Allura at the moment, I smiled widely at Lance and waited for him to finally tell me why he had been all moody and tired last week. He had said it had nothing to do with me, and I wanted to believe that, but I needed to know what this was about first. 

 

He was wearing a bright smile when he stared at my big fat A like he had been waiting an for eternity to tell me this. “Okay, so you know that really good college you want to get in to?” He asked me, the green specks in his eyes flying everywhere when his face beamed at the mention of my dream college. 

 

I furrowed my black bushy brows, pushing away my long bangs, thinking that I had to get a haircut soon. “Yeah? What about it?” I asked him, but my eyes went big when I realised that they had an awesome music program there, and why hadn’t I realised that sooner? “Lance! What!? Did you apply to the music program? You sent an application to the same college as me?” I smiled widely, the widest I ever had in my life. My heart was beating rapidly, my stomach doing twirls together with the flapping butterflies in my stomach. 

 

“Awww, you guessed it. I wanted to be the one who said it. But, yeah! I applied and I got a confirmation that they liked my music. Now I need to get my grades up next term and I might have a shot at getting in.” He smiled back at me those butterflies in my stomach causing me to ache like crazy. Man, I had fallen hard for this doofus, but I was so happy to have fallen for him, too. 

 

It was so hard not to lean in and kiss those delicious lips of his. Not only that, I wanted to do something physical to show my gratitude and how happy I was that he wanted to go to the same college as me. Nothing would be better than to live with my best friend, my boyfriend, my Lance.  _ Damn, what has happened to me?  _ I thought when I stared at the boy who had managed to snag my heart and change so much about me but still make me feel like me. 

 

“Holy shit, Lance. This is great news.” I smiled, bumping my elbow to his arm, wearing a smug look. “You know, if you need a tutor to help raise those grades, I know a guy who would love to take the position.” I leaned down to his ear to whisper. “And I hear he takes kisses as payment.” 

 

I could feel the smile on Lance’s lips. “Sounds like my kind of guy. You got his number? I’d like to make a down payment for the next four months.” He giggled, the look in his eyes of pure want to kiss me. 

 

“I can make an arrangement. He might want to take double when he gets a load of you.” I winked at him, but was caught by clear blue-magenta eyes and a raised dark brown perfectly arched brow.

 

“Lonce, Keith? What’s going on here?” Miss Allura wore a smug smile, one I had seen on Lance yesterday around Shiro and Adam. Fuck, did we fuck this up and instantly reveal we were more than friends. 

 

“Nothing here, Lur. Unless you want a hot date with Lancey-Lance.” Lance saved us when Miss Allura rolled her eyes and smiled at his joking, then went to a student who had their hand raised. 

 

“Fuck, that was close. You need to downgrade the smooth-talking, Mullet.” Lance snickered, “Looks like I’ve been rubbing off on you too much. You don’t need more sugar for the time being, you’re already too sweet.” He winked, flashing those pearly whites at me. 

 

Before I could make a retort at his _too sweet_ comment, the bell rang us out. I noticed Lance grab his new winter coat and slinging it on causing my cheeks to heat up like crazy. It had never dawned on me that a navy blue long winter coat could make me feel what I felt that instant, and it was me wanting to give the world to Lance and tell him how much he meant to me and it was more than the world, it was more than the entire universe. 

 

Lance caught my gawking at him in his new coat. “What Mullet? You jealous of my new, cosy, warm coat.” He made a 360 degree turn in his coat. 

 

I laughed at him. “Sure, let’s go with that. You look good in it. Let’s head outside and try out that new coat of yours, see if it can keep out the cold.” I smiled, dragging him to follow me to a secluded place outside the school. 

 

“I know something else that can keep the cold away.” Lance whispered in my ear while we made our way outside, and found a wall behind one of the school buildings where no one could see us. 

 

The memory of Lance and my’s fight almost three months ago popped up in my head when I took in the building we hid behind. It was the exact spot where I tore at his shirt, and jumped on his back, trying to pick a fight with him after he nominated me for school president and it ended with me on the ground and a gash in my back, which I now had a small scar from reminding me of that day still. The memory felt like ages ago as I stared at the gorgeous delinquent ready to attack my face with his lips. 

 

Lance pushed me lightly against the wall to plant his lips on mine for the time we had left of recess. His lips tasted of spearmint bubblegum, and he smelled like something fruity making me hungry. “Man, I love this, Mullet. The cold makes me want to keep my lips glued to your hot mouth all day. Well, even if it weren’t cold out I’d probably staple my lips to yours anyways, but still, this is awesome.” He jabbed his tongue in my mouth, a low hum of pleasure escaping the both of us. 

 

We released and I licked my lips of the after taste of spearmint, feeling refreshed. “Listen, Lance. Do you think we should tell Pidge and Hunk about us? I feel like they deserve to know.” I asked him, my eyes catching his tidal waves. 

 

He kissed my cheek, a soft smile spreading on his tan face, smoke coming out of his mouth from the biting November cold. “I have an itching feeling they already know, like Pidge, she’s smart as hell, if she hasn’t picked up on us yet...and Hunk, well, Hunk is Hunk. If we tell them, then we have to make sure...you know, that us being boyfriends doesn’t come out to the whole school. I don’t want my folks learning I’m dating a boy from a random person from school. I want to tell them myself.” He said, pushing my bangs to the side to plant a loving kiss on my forehead. 

 

“And when will that be, Lance?” I asked him, knowing the question seemed mean since coming out can be a right bitch, especially if you have unaccepting parents with different beliefs and faiths, and expectations of their kids.   

 

A sad smile found his beautiful face, one that made me want to bake him his favorite cake and dip it in melted birthday cake ice cream. Instead, I kissed his cheek back, then cupping the warm skin with the palm of my hand. “I know coming out is hard, Lance. Shiro is bisexual, too, and he didn't have the best coming out with his folks, but he’s glad that it’s out. If you want to talk to him before you come out, you’re more than welcome to do that. We can tell Adam and Shiro about us, even though I’m a thousand percent positive and can bet the rest of my coupons that they already know, and then you can talk to Shiro about your coming out.” I beamed at the idea, hoping that Lance thought it was a good idea, too. 

 

The bell rang for next period, and Lance hadn’t answered my question. He was wearing a worried look, and was lost in thought until he opened his mouth, “Sounds like a good idea, Mullet. We’ll tell them after school? Then we’ll tell Pidge and Hunk tomorrow, or over the cord?” He asked me, and I knitted my brows at telling the guys through the cord. 

 

“Do you think the cord is the best way to break the news of us being boyfriends?” I asked him, my voice laced with doubt about that idea. “They’re not going to look at you differently, Lance. You’re still going to be you after you come out to our friends. They love you, they’ll accept you for who you are, just like me. Do you trust me?” I giggled, using the quote from my favorite Disney movie. 

 

He grabbed my hand, lacing our fingers until we reached the entrance to our building. “Fine. We’ll tell them after school tomorrow. I want to get this out of the way with your dads first, but you know this means we probably won’t be allowed to stay in your room with the door closed and make out. And we’re guaranteed not going to be allowed to have sleepovers..” He frowned, which I found undeniably cute. 

 

“We’ll figure it out. Just think, if you get into the same college as me we can be roommates.” I waggled my eyebrows, channeling his inner loverboy persona. 

 

Lance smiled drunkenly at the idea, and chanced a quick kiss on the top of my head. “Holy crap, now you really need to get me that tutor, Mullet.” He winked. 


	44. Child

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, I decided to upload a new chapter tonight. Not sure if there'll be more until over the weekend, I want to write more chapters this weekend to be ahead, huehuehue. 
> 
> After you read the chapter, I have a quick question I want to ask and would love a response on it. Thanks! Enjoy the chapter. :)

“Seriously, again!? Derek is probably sick of seeing us here everyday after school, Lance!” I whacked his head with the plastic blue gun in my hand. 

 

It had been two weeks since Lance and I made a deal that we would break the news to my dads about us officially being an item. And guess who’s broken them the news? Not Lance and I, that’s for sure. 

 

Ever since Lance learned he could talk to Shiro about his sexuality and how he can come out to his parents, he had been chickening out every day after school using all the spare time we had left until curfew to blow it off at the arcade. 

 

I knew I could use my awesome persuasive skills to drag him to my house and force him to sit down on my couch with Ruby planted on his lap and Kosmo barricading him from leaving my house, but that would make me a bad boyfriend. He supported my decision to not think all that much about my past and how it treated me whenever I did think about the incident. So with this, I was going to let the idea of him wanting to come out to his parents sink in a bit more. Letting him find the courage on his own, but damn was it taking some time. 

 

I hid an exasperated sigh. Seeing him with that miserable face while shooting at some flesh eating zombies, seriously made me want to whack him again with the plastic gun. “Lance. It’s been two weeks. You promised you’d come with me to officially tell my dads we’re a couple. I’m sick of waiting, and so are my dads.” I groaned at him, waving the blue gun in the air waiting for him to finish the game. 

 

He made a sour look, his thin brown brows furrowing when large bloody red letters reading:  _ Game Over  _ glowed on the screen. He jammed the red plastic gun back in the holster, releasing a sharp breath, then directed a fiery blue gaze at me. 

 

“I...I’m not ready, Kitten.” He looked down, a quarter already set between his fingers. He would think that using my nickname would let him off the hook. Well, Lancey-Lance, guess again. 

 

I grabbed the quarter, and flicked his nose. “Bullshit, Lance. We’ve been alright the last two weeks, sneaking around, making out, holding hands. Derek even knows about us now since we’re here non-stop and you can’t stop touching me all the time.” I wave a hand at Derek behind the prize desk. 

 

Derek waved back, a tired look on his face from running this arcade the last ten years. He was nice and all, but running an arcade slash jungle gym for kids could be a tiring position in the long run. Maybe one of us should apply for a job here to help the poor guy. 

 

“Yeah but, that’s Derek, he’s like the nicest guy on the planet, and we’re the only people who know him - know him.” Lance moved to the skee-balls, grabbing the quarter from my hand to push it in the slot to get the balls. 

 

“We’re the only two people who come here, every - single - fucking - day. Lance...I’m tired of waiting.” I started walking towards the exit, hoping Lance would follow my heels. But, he stayed put.  _ Child _ , I thought. 

 

During the last two weeks, we had been too focused on preparing for finals. If we weren’t at the arcade, we were using our precious time to study at the school library. Shiro and Adam had been asking for Lance since we officially became a pair, but we’d been too busy with studying and playing games that it became too late and Lance had to go home. My money was on him avoiding them on purpose, something that made a raging boil in my gut. 

 

“Lance! We’re leaving. I’m putting my foot down.” I stomped my Doc Marten boot, receiving a jolt from the tall delinquent who was looking good in jeans and a light blue knitted sweater, one Shiro had made and made me give him since he was too much of a coward to get it himself. 

 

He rolled a skee-ball hard on the lane, hitting 100 pts, making a winning gesture with his hand, before turning to flip me off. I grabbed his finger and bent it over causing him to make a hurt sound from his throat, and pleading me to let go of him. 

 

“Hell no, McClain. I may be your boyfriend, but I’m not going to be a loving one if you don’t man up and get your ass to my house to tell my dads we’re together. You’re being a fucking pussy right now.” I told him straight up, bending his middle finger even more, his face wincing at how much it was hurting. 

 

“Fine! I yield, Mullet. I yield...you’re killing me.” He tried to say through a hurting voice, pouting at me making me do nothing else than smile at him. That dimwit, I was so mad at him, but that stupid face of his always made me melt. 

 

“You’re lucky, you’re cute as fuck. Will you come home with me today?” I started to release his finger, but not until he nodded his pretty little head. 

 

The first few days of waiting was fine with me. But when it passed the one week mark and he still hadn’t got the guts to do anything about us being together, I felt that heated rage blossoming in my gut. Then there was the matter of telling Pidge and Hunk. They still didn’t know we were together, and it was getting extremely hard to hide our affection whenever we hung out with them after school or had lunch with them. 

 

Pidge would always give us weird glares whenever Lance tried to catch my hand under the table, making me jump at times for no sudden reason. Luckily, Hunk was oblivious and only thought about food, his girlfriend or games. He never suspected the two of us were together, but we might have been the delirious ones and Hunk might have known all along. Again, how would I know, we haven’t told them anything yet, and that was something I thought I would be grateful for because I know those two could wind up blurting to the whole school, but at the same time they were our closest friends and they deserved to know. Like officially know, since I was positive they already knew. 

 

Lance wanted to give me a kiss, but I pulled away from his grip and turned my head away from him. He made a low whine, grabbing the tickets from the machine to head over to Derek and claim a prize, ignoring everything I had just said. 

 

He came back holding a stuffed animal in his hand. It was a cute red lion plush, and he held it out to me. “What’s this?” I eyed the stuffed animal, then looked up catching the heart of an ocean with green specks floating with sincere. 

 

“My apology. You think Ruby would like it?” He smiled warmly at me, handing me the red lion plush. He swung his other hand around from his back and held another plush, a blue lion this time. “This one's for you. I’m sorry for being an ass the past two weeks. I’ve just been so scared, Keith. Not because I’m together with you..” He held the blue lion plush up to his face, cuddling with it, a small pout forming on those peachy lips. 

 

The red lion plush felt soft in my hand, a weak smile finding my face. I grabbed his free hand and pulled him towards the exit. “I get it, Lance. But once you talk to my dads, we’ll see from there what happens. Okay? Baby steps.” I tighten our grip, letting him know I support him no matter what he decides to do, that’s what boyfriends are for. 

 

When we reached my car, Lance had wrapped his arms around my waist, his head nuzzling into my neck. He smelled like sweet vanilla, and woodsmoke. We had been to the campsite a couple times this week to be with each other, to talk about school, home, college, and it had been perfect nights. Nights I wanted more of once the weight on our shoulders were lifted. 

 

“Hey you.” I whispered to his nuzzling head. He sounded like a kitty who wanted nothing else than to cuddle, but it wouldn’t do us any good to cuddle in the middle of an arcade parking lot where everyone could see us. “Can you please let go of me?” I asked him, bopping my head on his. 

 

He made a new whine. “I don’t know, can I?” He mocked back to me, a cute chuckle leaving his throat. “Keeeith, can we go back to the campsite? I need one more night to think...” 

 

I opened my car door and smacked him in the face with it. His tan hands shooting to his slammed nose, a look of blind shock and a pouting pain washing over him. “The hell, Keith! You trying to mess up my beautiful face!?” He held a fist out towards my bored look before I scoffed at him and took a seat in my car waiting for him to get in the passenger seat. 

 

Instead of reading my look, and that I wanted him to get in the fucking car, he grabbed my door and leaned in to my sitting state, his breath breathing warmly down my neck when his face was close to mine. This felt a little too familiar, thinking back to when we hated each other’s guts at the beginning of the school year almost four months ago,  _ The name’s Lance  _ \- his voice found my memory. And here we were having our first fight as a couple. 

 

Lance had a tan face of rage, the bridge of his nose starting to weakly bruise, and those soft brown freckles dotted all over his gorgeous face made it hard to look away. His eyes had gone from a calm ocean to an electric storm, one of pure fury after I tried to show him who’s boss for once. His lips were curled down, revealing teeth, to make his angry stare even angrier. I stared even angrier back at him. Within mere seconds of him staring at my glaring face, he shifted, a look of understanding finding him, his lips closing, eyes going back to shore, calming. 

 

His lips found mine, a soft kiss pressed against me before he pulled back to look at me with a calm and collective expression. We both smiled at each other, and a low chuckle left him when I kissed his cheek.  _ Such a doofus _ , I thought. But he was my doofus, and I wanted him to continue to be my doofus. 

 

“I’m sorry, Mullet. So, sorry. Fine, let’s do this...I can’t drag this out any longer, it’s not fair to you, or Shiro and Adam, or Pidge and Hunk. Man, It’s not even fair to me, I really want the whole wide world to know how much you mean to me. Can you forgive my childish behavior?” He made a goofy smile, his face still close to mine as he was still leaned inside my side of the car in the empty parking lot. 

 

I ignited the car, a weak smile finding my face catching a wave when I tipped my head up to my boyfriend. “I don’t know, can I?” I said with a bubbly mocking tone. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My question: Okay so I loooove The Hunger Games, and really want to write my own "version" of it with Klance - would that be something you would like to read? It would be way more angsty than my usual fics, and there will be character deaths and so forth. It will resemble the original story, but a lot of it will be different too to make it more "Voltron-esque" and I wanted to do my very own take on it that would make it sort of original too. (Also it would be a fusion of all three books in one long fic split into parts) 
> 
> Let me know if you would be interested in reading that, and I'll try to muster a couple sample chapters soon. Okay this got super long, bye.


	45. Boyfriends

On the ride over to my house, I took in the nervous state of my delinquent of a boyfriend. His hands were glistening in sweat and running their fingers over each other trying to wipe said sweat away. It didn’t help that he was wearing a rare look of terror on his usually beautiful face, but the face that was staring out the window was still beautiful, but had a sense of worry and fright to it, as the lines of the corner his eyes became more prominent while he stared at the sunset. 

 

“Lance! Stop fidgeting, everything’s going to be alright. You want me to pull over to let you breathe, and talk it out before we talk with my dads?” I calmly asked him, reaching a gloved hand to his thigh, hoping it would help stop his fidgety hands at least. 

 

He started nodding after I asked to pull over. With that, I found a free spot on the side of the road and parked Red, letting the music stay on low. With the sunset dipping lower in front of us, Lance looked like the heart of the ocean, beautiful, astonishing, making me go breathless. Especially when he was wearing my red hoodie beneath his coat. Have I ever said how good he looked in red? Yeah, well, I’m saying it again. In all serious though, sometimes I had to look twice at him to make sure he was my boyfriend and not an imaginary boy who no one else could see except for me. 

 

“Breathe in.” I ordered. 

 

He breathed in, taking a long, nice inhale. 

 

“Now, breathe out.” I grazed my knuckles on his clenched jaw, feeling it softening. 

 

He smiled warmly after our little seance, turning his face to stare at me with twinkling, blue eyes, growing bluer by the second as the orange rays from the sunset shined on him. For some reason, I knew what he was thinking. How he was terrified to talk about something personal, how hard it was going to be to get it out of his mouth, out of his brain without his body going against him. And at the same time, I was thinking about how much braver he was than me, how I knew he was the better of the two of us, that he was willing, after some push and shove, to talk to my dads about one of the hardest bearings he has held inside of him. 

 

“I’m proud of you, Lance. You’re much more braver than I am. I want to make sure you know that, that what you’re going to do, what you’re doing right now being together with me. I would never go that far. I’ve been stuck with my demons for ten years and it wasn’t until I met you that I could take a small, really, really, small step further. But it’s the farthest I’ve ever gone. You though, damn, I’m so happy you’re mine and willing to stay mine.” My hand cupped his cheek, a thumb stroking him gently, feeling his smile as it bloomed at my touch. 

 

“Don’t make me cry again, Keith. I can’t be seen as a fucking pussy in front of your folks....I know they know about us, but what if I’m not enough for you…” I smacked his face lightly with the hand cupping his face, chuckling at his stunned eyes and open mouth. 

 

“We’ve gone through this before, Lance. Many times. Now shut the fuck up about it already. You have everything I want. If you think you have nothing to offer me as your boyfriend, you’re so fucking wrong…” I paused to look him hard in the eyes. “You still owe me seven coupons worth of free ice cream, now that’s a hell of a lot to offer.” I lean in to kiss him, feeling his bubbly giggle tickle my lips. 

 

“That’s more like it. You feel better? Wanna keep on talking, or do you feel ready?” I asked him, holding the steering wheel to see if he were ready to drive on, but his hand had found a long strand of my black hair. 

 

“It’s gotten pretty long, Keith. I can’t call you mullet anymore, this is like...Rapunzel hair.” He smiled, lifting my hair to his nose. “Smells like flowers…” He said with a drunken look, but his eyes sparked. “Didn’t you say once that floral smells make you dizzy and sick, like the bad kind of sick...?” 

 

Dude had some memory, I thought and had to bite the bullet. “Yeah, I did say that. But like I said, McClain. Mr. Hot-Bod-who-always-know-what-to-say-at-the-right-time. You’ve been able to open a locked door in my brain. I’m getting there, closer and closer for each day, to face those fucking demons going on in my head. Flowers do remind me of someone, but if I tread into that damm and wear something that reminds me of...well. Maybe I’ll feel braver, too.” I ignited Red, her purr sounding smooth. 

 

“Can we do this?” I asked, turning up the volume of the music until I made a yelp when Lance pulled on my long hair. “Owww, Lance! What the fuck!” 

 

I killed the ignition again and craned my head towards my door, feeling the tug of Lance’s hands suddenly braiding - braiding! - my long hair. “We need to do something about this long mop of hair, Mu-- I mean, Rapunzel.” He cooed the nickname, a heat flaming in my chest at the new nickname, one I think I might finally go along with.  

 

“So, you don’t want me to cut it all off?” He tugged my hair harder, a wince finding my face and a sound of hurt leaving my throat. “Take that as a no…” I grumbled, really wanting to cut off my mane; strands of hair were everywhere in the house, and in the shower drain, and in Lance’s clothes. But, if he wanted it long, my man is going to have his way. 

 

“Hell no, Keith. I love your hair, and you need it to be as long as possible. You’re my lovely princess, yes you are.” He made a dreamy voice, finishing up my braid then slinging it to the side since my hair had really gotten that long. Which is odd as it’s only been three months, but science says that hair grows longer when you’re in love, I fluttered my lids at the thought and smiled to myself, and then craned my head to the middle of the front seat. 

 

I grabbed hold of the mirror on the ceiling, tipping it down to take a look at the side braid Lance made. It rested gently past my shoulder, the ends splitting beneath the rubber band. There was no denying it, I looked good with longer hair, now the question was to cut my bangs or grow them with the length of my hair. 

 

Enough thinking about my hair, this time I finally ignited Red and started driving without thinking about Lance’s whining to stop again, and that he still wanted to talk. We could talk on the way, we still had at least fifteen more minutes until we reached my house, and my dads. 

 

“Hey Lance..” I tried to help him focus on something else during the drive. He craned his neck to face me, a curious look finding him. “How did you know I was gay? I know for a fact I never told you that piece of information about me.” I asked him, smiling, staring out at the road, one hand on the steering wheel. 

 

“That was easy...your mouth slightly opens when you find someone attractive. Let’s just say, I tried to see if your mouth did that with any of the girls, like Ezor or Miss Allura, but no bait. Then when Ryan came by during lunch when you wore that yummy shirt, your mouth instantly hung slightly open, and your pupils grew super, duper big. And maybe something else went big, too.” He giggled, and I pressed my foot on the brake causing him to shoot forward while making an  _ oof  _ noise.  

 

“Fuck! Don’t say things like that...you know how flustered I get when we talk about that kind of stuff…” My cheeks were on fire, and Lance couldn’t stop laughing at me. “Stop it, McClain...Fine, but how did you know I was open about my sexuality- I never told you that.” 

 

“I just assumed since you were still yourself, not hiding the fact that you were into guys. Like you weren’t ever embarrassed, or not as much as you usually get, so whenever a cute guy made your view at or outside of school, you wouldn’t hesitate to show any interest...if you know what I mean. Man, I was so jealous since you  _ never _ looked at me like that.” He huffed, crossing his arms, sounding a tad over exaggerated. 

 

He was so oblivious. That boy was the only one I wanted to show I had any interest in. For someone who loves to say how smart he is, boy is he dumb when it comes to love. Ever since I found out how attracted I was to him, all I ever did was give him signals, and not once had he picked up on them. It was sad to think about, since not did I only let him hold my hand at times. I urged him on to cup my cheeks, to kiss my cheek, kiss  _ his  _ cheek and almost forced him to kiss my fucking lips, but nope, _ I _ never looked at him like I looked at cute guys at the mall. The nerve of that guy. Had he not been going to talk to my dads, I’d tear him a new one. 

 

“Keith? You have that look on you.” Lance mumbled, trying to reach at me with his hand. 

 

“Which one…” I said in a bored voice, rolling my neck towards him, wishing I could wring  _ his _ neck with my free hand. 

 

“The one that says you’re thinking about how dumb I am.” He tried to chuckle, but it came out disrupted. 

 

“Bingpot.” I sped up, taking a hard swerve to the right when our favorite turn came. Lance whooped, yelling his appreciation to my drifting skills. 

 

“Killin’ it, Kogane! I have taught you well.” Lance beamed when I caught his face in the mirror, a smile tugging on my lips even though I was still fed up with his stupidity on love. 

 

We made it to my driveway. Shiro and Adam’s cars were both parked outside my house indicating they were both home. I killed the ignition, turning to stare at Lance, and checking to see if he had calmed down now. He hadn’t. His body was shaking, the sweat on his brow glistening in the light from the garage. Who would have thought that GP’s finest delinquent could become such a nervous wreck in such a short amount of time. We’ve only driven for like fifteen minutes. 

 

“Lance...how about we sing a bit...would that calm you? Got any new songs lately?” I asked him, pulling him close me, my hands wrapping around his neck. 

 

We kissed, once, then twice more for good measure, who knows if he wants to break up with me after our talk with my dads, or worse, he dies from how nervous he is. Lance swallowed, scrolling through his phone to put on a melody then started to sing a song I hadn’t heard yet, his vocals hitting my ears causing an ocean somewhere out there in the big wide world to turn their tides for more of his angelic voice. 

 

The lyrics were beautiful. So beautiful, I thought everyone should hear them one day, thinking about the talent show we had every year at GP whenever spring-time marched in. He would kill it if he signed up, but I knew that would be a long shot. He hated, no wait,  _ despised  _ singing in front of an audience. Having him in the car singing one of his own songs for me was as far as he would ever go to show off his wonderful music. I hoped with everything I had that he would get accepted into my dream college and could overcome his stage fright, working with his music to show the world, Lance McClain. 

 

“Feel better?” I asked him when he stopped singing. A warm, calming smile found him when our gazes met. 

 

“Better as I can ever be. They won’t eat me alive, will they?” He asked me as I opened the door to get out, contemplating his question. Okay, so we have my dads: Adam and Shiro, the two lovebirds who practically forced me on my now boyfriend. When we put it like that -

 

“Sure they will.” I grinned at him playfully. “They’re going to pluck out everything they can from you. So get ready.” I flicked his cute nose before pushing him out of Red, then dragging him with me into my house where we found Shiro, Adam and Ruby slumped on the couch watching  _ Moana _ for God knows how many times. 

 

“Again!? Rubes don’t you ever get sick of these movies...why can’t we try  _ How to train your dragon? _ or,  _ The little Mermaid?”  _ I laughed at Shiro and Adam with their sick looks of watching  _ Moana  _ again, and again, an again. 

 

Lance showed himself in the living room, standing next to me and was tackled by a little monster. “Lance!!” Ruby screamed, hugging his long legs, Kosmo barking next to her, waggling his tail happy to see my boyfriend again. 

 

“Hey, Rubes! So good to see my favorite monster, again!” Lance picked her up to give her a tight hug and a kiss on her cheek. A soft smile found my face and caught my dads’ happy smiles staring at my boyfriend hugging my little sister in a loving embrace. 

 

“Hey, Lance. It’s good to see you again. You’ve been avoiding us...” Adam, cutting straight to the chase, patting the couch for us to sit, taking a sip of his mug.

 

Adam had been giving Lance a lot of space these past two weeks at school. After I spoke with Shiro that night Lance slept in my room, he had told Adam everything we talked about when he went to bed, something I was hyper aware he was going to do. I remember I grabbed Adam hard on the shoulder Monday morning the day after Halloween and begged him to give Lance some slack because he wasn’t out about being bisexual, and that was something he wanted to come to terms with on his own and open up with his loved ones by telling everyone himself when he felt ready. Adam nodded that morning, smiling widely and told me how happy he was to know that we were something at least and that he looked forward to us coming to them to officially break the news. Which apparently took longer than I had anticipated. 

 

“Keith, who made that pretty braid on your hair?” Ruby asked me when I sat down on our L shaped couch, feeling a furry animal cosying up on my lap. 

 

“Hey, Kosmo. Good, boy.” I smiled as I pet his head. “Lance did my hair, Rubes. Want him to do yours, too?” I smiled and directed my gaze to Lance who was leaning on the opening to the living room staring at our little family waiting for him to take a seat. 

 

He stood planted, still staring at the couch before his eyes tipped to catch mine. “Sit.” I commanded him, but Kosmo was the one who made a noise at the command he was used to hearing. “You’re already sitting, boy.” I rolled my eyes, waiting for my boyfriend to get moving. 

 

Lance held onto the elbow of his loose arm, looking like a helpless animal who wanted nothing more than to flee before the prey came to claim him as dinner. “Lance, it’s okay. I’ll do all talking.” I urged him, scooching on the couch to get close enough to grab his arm and pull him to sit down. “Here, you sit here and start braiding Ruby’s hair. I’ll start talking.” I kissed him on the cheek forgetting that Adam, Shiro and Ruby were all in the room, a low chuckle leaving both my dads’ mouths when I felt a heat rising in my cheeks at what I just did. 

 

“So?” Shiro started, wearing a calm and collective smile, handing me a cup of coffee and Lance a cup of tea with extra honey, his favorite. “You two had something to tell us.” He winked at Lance and I. Adam rolled his eyes at his husband, his lips quirking to a corner when he took in Lance’s shaky hands while he braided Ruby’s long black hair, and me raising my brows still not having it with Lance being so damn nervous. 

 

“Yes. Lance and I have something to tell you.” I waited for Lance to finish Ruby’s french braid. 

 

“There we go, you little monster. Oh! And I won this for you.” Lance found the plushie of the red lion he won earlier at the arcade. Ruby’s dark brown eyes turned wild when she held the red lion plush in her hands, then gave Lance a big, warm hug. 

 

“Thanks, Lance. I love him so much!!!” Ruby ran her hand through her braid like Queen Elsa, then hugged the red lion plushie close to her face while she took Kosmo to run upstairs and play with her toys or draw or something. 

 

When Ruby scampered away from the living room leaving all of us in the room smiling at how cute she is, Lance turned to sit next to me, then faced my dads who were sitting on each their own yellow recliner staring at both of us with harmless smiling faces. Seriously, it was nothing to be afraid of. I turned to look at Lance giving him an asking look to see if he was ready to finally get this first obstacle out of the way. He grabbed my hand and laced our fingers, nodding his head then turned to look at Adam and Shiro dead in the eye.

 

“Alright. So, Lance and I are-” I squeezed Lance’s hand, looking at him fondly, seeing if he was happy to be here, doing this. 

 

“Dating?” Shiro blurted, sounding a bit too giddy before either of us could say what we actually were doing. The funny thing was we hadn’t exactly discussed the word dating, yet. 

 

Lance made his first laugh in a while, surprising me. “Heh, well….We haven’t exactly gone on a date yet.” He made a sorry expression, his eyes closed and his free hand finding his neck. 

 

“What about homecoming? That had to count as a date.” Adam shot in, cocking a light brown brow at us. 

 

“That wasn’t a date!” I said loud enough so that everyone in this room got it in their brains that us going to homecoming together was  _ not, nooot  _ a date. 

 

“I’d like to say it was.” Lance interjected, going back to his normal self. I mentally high-fived myself, happy to have my chipper, douchey boyfriend back again. 

 

“It wasn’t though, Lance. We agreed on that.” 

 

“Dude, we slowed dance. Like, I held you _ in my arms _ ! It was a date.” 

 

“Anyway...where were we?” I stuttered, giving Lance a glare he was used to when I was fed up with his bullshit. “Right. Anyways, Lance and I. We like each other more than friends.” 

 

“Like best friends.” Lance shot a finger gun towards Adam and Shiro, but made a breathless gasp when I grabbed his stupid finger and pulled at it to make him stop. “Keeeith...stoop.” He whined. 

 

“Shut up, McClain. But yeah, sort of like best friends, but more than that. It’s kinda hard to explain. And it goes both ways. I like him, him me. Get it? Okay, cool. Lance we did it!” I talked super fast like I was the one who was ridiculously nervous now and couldn’t understand why this was happening when I was super calm earlier. 

 

“Wait a second. Keith, you need to slow down. So, who confessed to who?” Adam grabbed Shiro’s hand and laced his fingers with his, his brown-rimmed glasses glinting in the light. 

 

Funny story, I thought. “Uhh..” I stuttered again, trying to wrack my brain of who actually confessed to who. Did we even confess? I just remember kissing Lance then we became boyfriends. “No one confessed. So us, we like...it just sort of happened?” I ended the sentence as a question, looking to Lance for guidance. 

 

He had his head slanted to the side, eyes closed, thinking. “Keith decided to jump me with his mouth, and I easily jumped back cause, ya’know. It’s Keith, obviously.” He sounded exaggerated again when he said the word obviously, kissing my temple in front of my dads. Man, I was so regretting this now. 

 

“Well  _ obviously _ , he is our son.” Shiro laughed, slapping his knee then fist bumping Lance’s knuckles. Seriously, worst decision ever. Can we turn back time? 

 

I decided to play along, knowing there was no turning back time. Things were going surprisingly well, especially with Lance and we couldn’t stop when we were already in motion. “Yeah, so like, we’ve come to this conclusion: We’re best friends who like to be with each other all the time.” 

 

“And kiss sometimes….err, all the times” Lance stuck a finger in my cheek. I nodded at that. “And hold hands, Mullet.” He held our entwined hands up to show my dads. Please stop this. “And cuddle.” 

 

“That’s enough, Lance. They get the picture..” I wheezed, covering his big mouth. They did not need to know that we cuddle. That only means we like having our bodies close to each other, and they did not need to get ideas. I definitely did not need a new talk about the birds and the bees. Once was enough to last a fucking lifetime. 

 

“So what you two idiots are saying is…” Adam huffed out all bored. “That you’re boyfriends?” He asked at last, saying the word boyfriends causing my heart to leap a million times, then do backflips and cartwheels, sprouting tiny flags with the word boyfriends on them. 

 

Shiro made a sigh like he was thinking back to when him and Adam were at this phase. The falling in love, getting together for the first time, the excitement of new love phase. It was sickening, but kind of sweet to look at his dreamy face. 

 

“Best boyfriends.” Lance decided at last, still poking my chin. 

 

I grabbed his annoying finger in my hand. “Yes. That’s exactly what we are.” I smiled, then laughed at Lance struggling to get his finger back.

 

“But there’s more.” I started, looking at Lance with serious eyes. He quickly looked away, knowing what came next. 

 

He had to come out. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just realized I have like ten chapters left to write (if it all goes to plan) and then the story will be done, and that makes me sad. And the chapters I'm going to write this week are the really hard ones...ugh, wish me luck. 
> 
>  
> 
> On a side note: I started a drabble instagram. If you want to check it out, search for voltronhasmys0ul :)


	46. Bisexual

He didn’t have to come out to his parents. At least, not yet. That was something he would have to do when he felt ready. I understood how hard these things could be and respected Lance on that front knowing how strict his parents were with him when it came to his sexuality. But, now that we’d told Adam and Shiro we were boyfriends, he had to come out to them at least. It would be a nice start for him, and maybe later when he felt brave enough, he can come out to his family and I could finally be his boyfriend in the open. 

 

“Lance. Come on. You can do it.” I slung an arm around his waist, gripping him close to me, letting him know I was here for him. 

 

Shiro and Adam were still holding hands, looking intently at Lance with wistful faces. “We won’t bite, Lance. We’re going to be your first step. As soon as you say it out loud to someone else besides yourself or Keith, it’ll get so much easier.” Shiro rested a hand on his thigh, smiling gently at him. 

 

Lance took a deep breath in. “Okay. I...I am…” He placed a hand on my cheek, smiling warmly. “I am bisexual. I like females and males. And I really,  _ really _ like your son, Keith Jonathan Kogane.” He breathed heavily out, knowing one obstacle was out of the way. 

 

“Perfect, Lance. Be true to yourself. If you like both sexes then that’s okay.” Adam smiles, drinking up his coffee. “I’m going to check on Rubes. She’s either asleep, or she’s made a mess in her room and hiding somewhere. I’m hoping for the former.” He patted Lance on the shoulder. “Proud of you, bud. We’re happy you’re with Keith.” 

 

Adam left the living room, leaving us alone with Shiro. Now would be the best time to talk about the main obstacle. Lance finding the courage to come out to his parents.

 

“Shiro...Lance’s parents. They don’t know...about us being together. Or no one does except you guys.” I said, catching Lance’s small frown. 

 

“Yeah. My parents they’re well….not the most open family when it comes to liking the same sex. Keith told me you had a difficult time coming out to your parents and that I could chat with you about it.” He had let go of my hand to fidget nervously with his own hands. 

 

Shiro sat his mug down on the side table. “Adam was the lucky one of the two of us. He came out as gay when he was 12 and his parents accepted him on the spot. He got the easy draw, that son of a bitch. Me on the other hand. I’m bisexual, and my parents are very religious. I knew if I told them I liked men as much as I liked women, they’d kick me out of the house and disown me as their son the moment I told them.” 

 

He grabbed the thermos to pour himself more coffee. “I met Adam when I was a sophomore in high school. He was a senior at the time, and when we started dating, I begged him to keep our relationship a secret or else we’d have to break up. I loved Adam too much, and he threatened to break up with me If I didn’t suck it up and be true to myself. He would leave me if I didn’t come out to my family. He was harsh with me, telling me that if I couldn’t man up and let my family know who I loved, then what about the rest of the world? And he was right. If I couldn’t even show my family who I loved then the rest of the world didn’t need to know either. So I manned up. Love is fluid. No one woke up one day and said love is only one thing. That the default of love is to love the opposite sex. Love takes on many forms. You can love whoever, no matter their sex. Love is love. It’s the feeling, not the parts that decides who you love.” He stopped to take a sip of his coffee. 

 

“So you came out to your parents?” Lance asked, the green in his blue eyes jumping all over the place. 

 

“It took a while after Adam gave me that speech. I wanted to wait until I was 18 before I told them. Which took about two years, and then Keith…” He kept still when he mentioned my name. “Well...after I turned 18 and graduated high school. I finally took the shot and came out to my folks. It was a freeing feeling, finally telling them I liked both sexes. They were furious at me. Trying to blame it on my friends, or the movies I watched. The best one was blaming it on satan and suggested to purify me...When I told them I had a long time boyfriend of almost three years, they kicked me out of the house, but what they didn’t know was that I had already moved in with Adam after I graduated and had Keith move in, too.” 

 

Lance’s brows were knitted. I wanted to know what he was thinking. Shiro’s story wasn’t that uplifting, but it was something he should hear nonetheless. Even bad stories could end up good. 

 

“I know this wasn’t the pep-talk you were expecting.” Shiro let out a sharp breath through his nose, taking in Lance’s expression. “I was prepared for the worst, the day I came out to my folks. If they accepted me, great. That would have been wonderful, but my parents wounded up being the worst kind. I drew the short straw there. It might not happen with you, Lance. But, if you don’t be true to who you are. Then...well. Then you won’t be able to move on in life. You’ll always be trapped in a bubble that won’t ever pop. If your family winds up not accepting you for who you feel you are, then that’s too bad. It’ll be their loss knowing how wonderful a son they have even though he likes girls and boys. You’re still you, you just have a bigger heart than others. If your family can’t see that, then fuck them. Sorry. Your family is probably great, but you get the picture.” That made a smile on Lance’s face, I noticed, when Shiro said to _fuck them._

 

“Do you understand where I’m coming from, Lance?” Shiro’s hand stayed planted on Lance’s knee, waiting for an answer. 

 

Lance fell backwards, sinking into the large comfy pillow of our couch releasing a loud sigh. I could see him taking in everything Shiro told him. Behind the swirls of his blue eyes, they had turned into a gray storm of confusion. He was still trapped by the cuddly cushion when he craned his pouty face to me. 

 

“I get it, but I’m still too scared.” He whispered to me, eyeing Shiro and hoping he wouldn’t be mad at him for not being prepared after his talk.

 

Shiro stood up, then bent down to plant a hand on me. I felt his face move closer to mine, his voice turning into a subtle whisper.

 

“Keith, you got it from here. Be a good boyfriend and take care of Lance.” Shiro patted my shoulder, giving Lance a warm smile while he still laid smushed into the pillows looking helpless, but at the same time, better than he was earlier. 

 

“No problem, Shiro. Thank you for doing this. It might not have gone through to him yet, but it was better than doing nothing.” I settled a hand on top of the hand that was resting on my shoulder. 

 

“Any time. We love Lance, and he deserves to be who he is, not who is parents want him to be.” Shiro’s black brows were furrowed then, noticing the words he had used, giving me a look filled with regret for the years he had tried to force me into someone I didn’t want to be. 

 

I released Lance’s hand to stand up and hug Shiro. “Don’t, Shiro. You have no idea how thankful, how grateful I am to have you, and Adam and Ruby, but mostly you, in my life. Hadn’t you been there for me when I was little, I don’t...I don’t think I’d be here today. I’m getting there too, slowly, but surely. Step by step. And it’s thanks to the people I have in my life. I love you, dad.” My hold on him tightens, and I hear of silent hitch leave Shiro before he kisses the top of my head. 

 

“I need to go check on Adam and Ruby. Tell Lance how you came out. It’s a happier story than mine.” He whispered in my ear, choking back a small sob. 

 

Shiro ruffled my hair after our little father-son moment, and hugged Lance before he left the living room and went upstairs. As soon as we heard his footsteps stop walking up the steps, Lance pulled me in for a kiss, this time without any call signs. We could be a couple at home, we could be boyfriends here, and soon, I hoped, we could show the rest of the world, too. 

 

“Lance, you’re crying.” My thumb immediately went to the tears running down his golden face, a soft chuckle leaving me as the tears dried up beneath my touch. 

 

Lance, the drama-queen that he is. He took his index fingers under his eyes to rub away the tears like he had tear-streaked mascara beneath them. “Ugh...It’s been an emotional afternoon, Mullet.” 

 

“It sure has.” I said, and felt a finger stroking beneath my own eye. “What…”

 

“You’re crying, too, Keith. What you and Shiro were talking about….that was big. Sort of why I’m crying too.” He pulled me down to lay next to him in the comfy cushions. “You finally found yourself, Keith. And Shiro accepts who you are too now.” His lips brushed against mine, his smile warming my whole body as I felt it against my lips. 

 

“Yeah. You really did have all the answers, O’ great wise one.” I kissed him again, then opened my eyes to catch a blue-green wave. “You know, I had to come out too with my dads. Even though they like men, they hadn’t assumed I liked men, too. I kept it secret for a while before I came out.” I admitted, grabbing Lance’s hand, looking at it, at the gold rings glinting in the low, living room light. 

 

“How long?” 

 

“Almost three years. I was unsure at first when I was 12-13 years old, but then I had my first real crush on a boy freshman year, and that’s when I knew I liked boys..and only boys. Girls.” I made a sour face. Then I smiled when Lance snickered at my face. “They never  _ did _ anything to me, if you get it.” Now my cheeks were turning red when I thought about how boys turned me on and girls didn’t, oh man. 

 

“That I know.” Lance held a finger under my chin to give me a sexy grin. Shit, he didn’t have to look like that right now, knowing that my dads were only twenty steps up on the second floor with my kid sister, and I had more to tell him about my own coming out. 

 

I grabbed his finger and twisted it backwards, receiving a harsh gasp from my boyfriend. “We can’t do anything like that right now, Lance. Now let me go on. Roger?” I mirrored his sexy grin to provoke him, and let him know how topsy turvy my stomach felt when he made that look at me. 

 

“Damn, we have things to discuss later, babe.” Lance said really low, but the use of the word babe was all my ears could register, and man did it do things to me below the belt. 

 

“Keith, you’re blushing. Like really blushing. Was it because I said babe, babe.” He smiled when he said the words again. Damn that mother-

 

“Listen here, McClain. I’m trying to be serious now and you use the one word I was hoping you’d use on me, and all at the wrong time and moment.” My lips decided to trace kiss along his jawline. All on their own, I had nothing to do with it. When he called me babe, my lips decided to live their own life and go for it. 

 

I felt Lance’s sudden hard swallow. “This is bad. I can feel my jeans going tighter, Mullet. Can we stop this and go on?” His voice had gone a notch higher, and I agreed, this was fucking bad timing to be turned on. 

 

“Right. So like I said. Both of my dads are gay, right? And I was scared they had just assumed I would like guys too. Except that didn’t have to be the case. I was entitled to love or like whoever. So during puberty, I guess. I tried to figure out who I was. Did I like girls, or boys or maybe both? And since Adam was the principal at my school when I started at GP, I was even more terrified to figure out what I liked.” 

 

“Why? Everyone is like so accepting of you!” 

 

I released a sharp chuckled breath at that. “Sure. Listen, it’s not fun to be the principal’s kid, McClain. Let’s just say since everyone at school knew Adam was married to a man, they had just assumed I was gay too. That was not fun at all. It was like I didn’t even get a chance to find out who I liked whether it be girls, or boys, or both, or girls who identify as boys, and vice versa, then you have the aro ace and the gender fluids...man, there’s like so much to choose from and I felt confused enough to figure out if I liked girls or boys. Love is fucking annoying. At least, that’s what I had decided during my first years at GP…” I needed to breathe before I continued, feeling Lance wrap his arms around my waist and dragging me down to lay on top of his chest. 

 

“Go on, Mullet.” He prompted. 

 

“So during freshman year, I had a crush on Kinkade.” Lance made an angry growl at that. “Seriously, nothing to be worried about. It was the first time I actually felt my heart beat faster than normal. And that was when it had clicked somehow. I liked guys. Girls had never been able to make my body become uncontrollable, and with Ryan...well...it was enough to know. That was when I knew I had to come out to Adam and Shiro. The funny thing was, Adam sort of already knew but he had the upper hand being the principal and scouting my every move.” Now I made an irritated growl. 

 

“Aww yeah, daddy principal, number one stalker of the year.” Lance mocked, pumping a fist in the air. 

 

“Shut up. When I finally found out I had to come out for real, I decided to just do it.” 

 

“Like the Nike ad?”

 

“No. But, just do it.”

 

“You listened to Shia Lebeouf?”

 

“I’ll seriously do something bad to your face when you’re sleeping.” 

 

“Fine. You found out you had to just do it, and then?”

 

“And then, I did it. I came out to them. It was a Sunday morning, the weather was terrible, Ruby was an infant crying like crazy and through that loud crying I screamed to my dads that I was gay.”

 

“Sounds like it came straight out of a movie.”

 

“Wasn’t that straight though.” I laughed with Lance at my sudden joke. 

 

“Oh my god. My boyfriend really does have a sense of humor, I’m the luckiest dude alive.” He hugged me tighter, kissing the top of my head. 

 

I hummed at his kiss. “After that I felt a whole weight lift off my chest, my shoulders, practically my whole body knowing that that part of my life was finally dealt with and I could move on to more serious matters like school..and other things.” The memory of my nightmare suddenly flashed before me and my whole body made a jolt. 

 

“Hey Keith. That part will come too, I know it. Just one step at a time. I can see from both yours and Shiro’s stories that there are good sides and bad sides, and I should be prepared for both. It’s just...I’m not ready, not yet at least. I promise though before graduation. Is...is that okay?” He didn’t want to look me in the eye when I craned my neck up to see his handsome face. 

 

Instead of ripping the band-aid and shouting for him to become a man and don’t be a pussy. I pushed on my feet to get closer to his face, and kiss his lips lightly with my own. His mouth made my body sway, and I swear I felt like I was flying or turning into a kite. He had the power to do this to me, and I would never get enough of it. I was drunk on him, and needed more, more, more. 

 

“Hey, it’s fine. You were able to say it out loud to anyone else besides us, that’s an amazing start. I hope you can do the same with Pidge and Hunk too. And when that time comes, I’ll be there, right next to you, babe.” 

 


	47. Babe

Finals had taken over our lives. Lance and I had been discussing when we wanted to tell Hunk and Pidge about our relationship, but we never got the chance. We couldn’t tell them at school during lunch because everyone we knew from school was there. Then there was our study sessions at the library after school where everyone we still knew from school occupied the seats around us. The arcade, the rink, the movies; because of finals, we never had the chance to sit down with them and just tell them. 

 

We really wanted to invite them to my house and tell them, but these fucking finals had us swamped. And the weekends, the only time we thought we could break it to them, have turned into more study sessions since Miss Allura, Mr. Coran, Ms Von Gal and Mrs. Holt all thought it would be a good idea to give us homework while he had to study for our finals. So much fun, not, so fucking not. 

 

“Fuck, I really need a passing grade on this fucking, fucking test.” Lance had his hands in his hair, looking desperately annoyed at the numbers on his work sheet. 

 

“Relax, dude. They’re only numbers. Look here.” Pidge leaned over from the other side of the library table to show Lance with her pen the equations and tried to explain them better than me. 

 

We were back in the library ready to take our last finals. English, history, and science went well. My and Lance’s science project got a passing grade, an A- to be exact and Lance was whooping loudly that day when we received our grade. Lance, the English nerd we all know he is, easily landed an A+ on his finals and couldn’t stop bragging about it when he noticed my A, that fucking dork. History went well for me, but Lance had a worried look when he received his C, something I was afraid was going to affect his GPA to get into our dream college. 

 

Now, our last final, Math. Fucking math. I had no problem with math; algebra, calculus, geometry, logic, number theory. It was all easy peasy for me since numbers bode well together with my brain, but with Lance. He was almost crying while looking down at the worksheet with algebra equations. We were unlucky to draw the short straw, as the theme for this years math finals was algebra. 

“See. It’s not that hard, Lance. If you follow these simple rules to get the value of X, you’ll pass the final with flying colors.” Pidge smiled happily at my distressed boyfriend who was now biting the end of his pencil into a twig. 

 

Lance cocked a thin brow when he tried to figure out the equations on the sheet. “Check it now. Am I still dumb, am I not going to get into college.” He was biting his nails. 

 

“Stop that. You know biting your nails is like licking a toilet seat.” I told him, staring at his lips with my steel eyes letting him know that I ain’t kissing those lips later if he keeps on biting his nails. 

 

He made a sheepish smile at me, and I melted at that. His outfit was cute too today. Christmas was a month away, and he was already on his way to celebrate the holiday. Lance loved Christmas and started getting in the Christmas spirit already at the start of November. Was is annoying to listen to  _ All I want for Christmas  _ by Mariah Carey every single second, every single day? Was is fucking annoying to see him wearing different oversized christmas-themes sweaters on him every single day, counting down the days until Christmas?  

 

Today he surprisingly went for a bright red button down, no Christmas theme on him, and black skinny jeans. His rings were Christmas themed, red and white pin-striped rings but he didn’t look like an Ad for the Christmas holiday today and that was a relief. Although, I still loved him wearing the Christmas clothes, he was the only person who could pull it off without anyone giving him weird stares. 

 

“Sorry, Mullet. I’m stressing out about this final. You know how bad I am at Algebra. Why couldn’t it be Calculus...my luck is so bad.” He bonked his forehead on the table. 

 

“Here, eat this, it’ll give you an energy boost.” Hunk handed Lance a candy bar, his bright smile becoming contagious. 

 

“Thanks, big guy. I’m glad we’re all here to study together, I don’t know if I could handle my mama screaming down my throat with this shit. She’d probably tell me how underachieving I am compared to my fucking, fantastic sister.” Lance was spitting words now. It was so obvious on him how much he was dreading this test. 

 

“Your Mama sounds like a nice lady.” Hunk made a worried tone. 

 

Pidge and Hunk hadn’t met Lance’s parents yet. Ever since my trip to their house almost a month ago, we’ve decided not to visit them again until Lance wanted to come out to them and introduce me as his boyfriend. That would be great and all, but we still needed to reveal our big secret to our closest friends first. 

 

“Oh, she’s the best actually. It’s just when it comes to school or you know, my life. She couldn’t give a rat’s ass. Still, she wants me to graduate and get into a college, but they don’t care which one, just one. You dig?” Lance had rested his head in his elbow perched hand, looking out the window with a sad look. 

 

I grabbed the hand that was hanging loosely under the table, entwining our fingers. Even though we couldn’t be boyfriends in the open and in front of our friends, we could still show our appreciation for each other, and if my man was down, I was definitely going to be there to swoop him up from that down. 

 

When my hand found his, his whole face lit up. His smile reached to his ears, and it made my whole body want to parade with glee. He was my whole world, and I wanted to tell him how much he meant to me, like really tell him, really, really tell him. Okay, you get the picture. 

 

“Hey, with Pidge’s awesome brain, and Hunk’s secret stash with candy bars, you’re gonna show this test who’s boss.” I almost went in to kiss his cheek, but wounded up pinching it instead with my free hand, the one not laced with his under the table. 

 

“Aww, thanks babe.” Lance slipped out. 

 

“Babe!?” Pidge and Hunk slammed their palms on the table waking up every single tired student in the library. 

 

“Oh shit. That kind of slipped, uhm. I lost to a bet so I have to call Mullet here, babe. Babe.” It was clear how much he missed calling me babe. He only ever did it when we were alone, and that was never lately because of these stupid finals taking over every single second of our lives. 

 

Pidge and Hunk gave each other knowing looks. Looks of exasperation. “Listen you two.” Pidge started, and Hunk was nodding along with her. 

 

Both and Lance I tipped our heads up from looking away in embarrassment, catching honey-colored eyes and light-brown eyes. “Yeah?” Both of us said, looking at each other now not sure what was going on. 

 

“There’s something Hunk and I have been meaning to ask you. And we’ve been wanting to ask you two since Halloween, but we weren’t sure if we wanted to go ahead and jump the gun or wait until you guys were ready and wanted to tell us yourselves.” Pidge said, her glasses glinting from the lights on the library ceiling. 

 

Lance and I stared intently at the little gremlin who was wearing a calm and cool smile, her big friend sitting next to her with the same look of smugness plastered to his light brown face. “Yeah. You guys try to hide it, but it’s so obvious. To us, at least. Don’t think anyone else has caught on to it though.” He chuckled, taking a new bite of his candy bar. 

 

They knew. Fuck. My ears were going hot, and my mouth was slightly opened to start apologizing for lying to them and not telling them, but they were all smiles and happiness. They weren’t mad for some reason. So I let them continue. 

 

“Keith, I can see it on your face that you’ve already guessed what we’re going to say. And yes, we forgive you. We know how hard something like this can be, especially for you and maybe Lance too, we don’t know much about Lance’s life at home, but we do know you, bud.” Pidge made a new smile, her voice cooling the heat touching my ears. 

 

“Still, we’re sorry we didn’t tell you guys. Lance and I...we really wanted to. But, you know. School, home, his home. We wanted to wait until finals were over, and Christmas break started, but.” I said, and Lance was nodding along besides me, but quirked his mouth to that wicked grin I loved. 

 

“Yeah. You can blame it all on me. Keith wanted to tell you guys from day one, but my folks don’t know about me liking…” He went quiet, and an understanding floated in the air of our little circle of team Voltron. 

 

Pidge held out two fingers. The peace sign. She was wearing a ridiculously wide smile, one I always had seen on her whenever her mother would make her favorite dinner, or if she ever had the chance to binge-watch her favorite shows without her big brother Matt taking over the TV. It was reassuring. That smile. 

 

“No worries. You two are our best friends. We wanted to give you guys time and space to figure it out on your own.” Pidge said. 

 

“Yeah. You two.” Hunk laughed that hearty laugh of his. “It was kind of inevitable. We could see it from a long way, but you two, you guys were so oblivious...it was kind of tiring, right Pidge?” Hunk went back to his studying. 

 

“So tiring…” Pidge sighed, then jabbed Hunk in the gut to get his attention back. “So.. which of the two of you initiated this?” She asked, twirling her pencil in her fingers, stopping the pencil and pointing its tip to me and Lance.  

 

Lance and I caught each other’s gazes. Initiated? Was she talking in code since we were in the library? Initiated. So like who made the move on who first? That had to be what she meant. Looking back the past two months. I wasn’t quite sure who made the first move on who. All I did know was that I kissed him first. I beat him, that little shit. 

 

“I initiated it..I think?” said Lance with a thinking look, then he turned to look at me asking with his eyes who the hell made a move on who first. 

 

That was a really good question. “I kissed Lance.” I said through gritted teeth, but it turned out really muffled so that the other students in the library didn’t catch on to what I said. So the words sounded like  _ I ished uhnce.. _

 

Pidge was able to crack my muffled words, and held out a hand in front of Hunk. “Pay up, chum” She said happily, then that evil gremlin smirk of hers found her face. 

 

“You were fucking betting on us!?” I shot up from my chair, gloved palms on the table and gave Pidge big, black furrowed brows of  _ not cool. _

 

Hunk sighed while chewing on a candy bar. “We were bored Keith. You and Lance had this tension that someone could cut with a knife, and Pidge and I, since we’re like smarter than you two combined. We knew it was going to happen, and soon too. So we decided to have our own little fun.” He coughed up a crisp twenty dollar bill, and handed it over to the gremlin. 

 

“Always a pleasure, chum.” Pidge smiled greedily when she snatched the twenty and waved it in my face. “Hey, don’t give me that look, Keith. We’re happy for you two.” Pidge then said as she put away the money and her eyes went back to the books, like the news of me and Lance being boyfriends was already overdue. It felt pretty great. 

 

Now that that was out of the way, and surprisingly enough, and not as hard as we both thought it was going to be, if we compared this to breaking the news to Shiro and Adam. Lance and the guys were all absorbed in their books, not having a care in the world for love and romances, and talking about boys or girls, who was dating who, or who was cheating on who. We were the nerds. The outcasts of GP, and sometimes, like today, it felt good to be the outcast. Because who needed drama shit in their life? Am I right? 

 

I noticed Pidge’s binder when the others were still sucked into their studying. “Holy shit, Pidge, those are some mad organizational skills you got there. How do you do it?” I praised her. 

 

Her binder was for AP chem, and she had color-coded her binder with sticky notes of different colors of the rainbow. I grabbed her notebook with the writing  _ AP CHEM, DAT SHIT GOOD,  _ on it and took a quick look at how she organized her notes too. Yeah, I just said I was a nerd, these things fascinate me. 

 

“Duuuude, you color-code your writing too? Teach me your ways.” I was almost drooling when I took in her notes in different colors with a key-box on the top corner of every page that told me what each color stood for and that you could go through the rest of the notebook to find notes that linked with the notes I read on the page I was on. Man, and I thought I was organized. 

 

Pidge’s cheeks made a light pink color, one that suited her well. “Thanks Keith. Mom always tells me I use too much time on making my notes look pretty than actually reading on my notes and studying, but like, having nice notes help a lot.” She was trying to balance her pencil on her nose ignoring her books now. Looks like our study session was nearing its end. Hunk was already asleep, his head resting on his arms. Lance, on the other hand was pouting at me. 

 

“What it is?” I scrunched up my face at Lance, then went back to Pidge’s awesome notes and noticed how Lance’s face shifted to happy when I gave him attention, then back to pouting when I gave attention to a fucking notebook. 

 

“Are you kidding me?” 

 

“What?” 

 

“No, seriously….are you kidding me?” 

 

Lance was glaring at me now, taking in my bored look, one I had been using a lot on him since we got together. I knew his look, and he knew mine. 

 

“You’re jealous. Of a fucking notebook!” I lightly threw the notebook back to Pidge. “I’ll have a look at those notes later when a stubborn delinquent isn’t pouting up the whole room, I need ideas for studying for exams.” 

 

“Roger that. We’re gonna take off. I have chess club, and I think Hunk’s gonna meet up with Shay.” Pidge jabbed her elbow in Hunk’s side. 

 

“I’M AWAKE. I AM...AWAKE.” Hunk had a sleepy face and a smudge of his chocolate bar stained on his cheek. 

 

“Shhhhh!” The librarian shushed us from afar. 

 

We all snickered at our large friend. “You have a little something..” Both and Lance and I were pointing to the corner of our mouths. Hunk’s large bushy brows furrowed at us. 

 

“You want me to kiss you guys? Don’t you guys get enough of that from each other?” Hunk’s sleepy face was adorable, but after his comment, all my ears could do was heat up again. I had to look around to make sure no one heard him, and everyone was luckily minding their own business. 

 

“No, Hunk...oh man. Now that you two know about us, we’re gonna have to lay some ground rules.” I started, but Lance made a loud groan next to me, planting his head in his arms on the table. 

 

“Not these fucking rules again, Mullet. I thought we were done with rules….” 

 

“Rules are good to have when we don’t want to get fucking caught, McClain...this is all for you, now stop complaining.” 

 

Lance made a new groan. Pidge and Hunk were already on their feet, their backpacks slung on their backs, giving each other confused looks. “Rules? We just don’t tell anyone, right? Lance you said something about your parents?” Pidge asked, but kept on glancing at her watch. 

 

“It’s no big deal, you guys. But, don’t listen to Keith. We don’t need to make any rules..” Lance shot a sideways glance at me, his eyes turning into a roaring blue flame of hate when it came to rules. “We’re keeping us together a secret for now. You guys don’t need the deets if it’s too much info, or like, if you guys don’t care.”

 

“Of course we care, Lance. You’re our best friend, if something’s bothering you or in the way then we can help if you need our help.” Hunk chimed in. 

 

Lance made a happy grin, one that made my heart skip a beat. I slung an arm around his shoulder, pulling him into me and trying not to make it too obvious that we were an item, but instead, two best friends who were striking a close conversation. Totally normal. 

 

“You guys..You guys are the best. I got Keith to back me up. Go think about finals, and just keep your traps closed about me sucking face with Mullet here. Capiche?” Lance used his delinquent voice, one I hadn’t heard in a very long time, and I didn’t know whether to feel intimidated or aroused. 

 

“Hear ya loud and clear, McClain. Good luck on your finals next week. Let’s hope we all survive. We can celebrate with some karaoke or go to the roller rink.” Pidge was dragging Hunk with her towards the exit as they both waved us goodbye. 

 

“Hey, Lance?” 

 

“Hmm?” He hummed, smiling at nothing in particular. 

 

“Say capiche again like you did at Pidge and Hunk.” 

 

His face turned into a yakuza boss when his blue gaze landed on me and he said with his low delinquent voice, “Capiche.” 

 

I clamped my mouth shut to hold in any lewd noises. Definitely, definitely aroused. 


	48. Love

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I love this chapter

In the car ride home to my place, Lance was making a sad face. I felt a pang of hurt in my chest chancing a glance at him every once in a while while driving. “Hey, you okay?” I rubbed his thigh, and felt him tense up by my touch. He ignored my question, looking out the window while making a loud, very loud mind you, sigh. It was like he was in a sad music video.

 

“Lance?” I said his name irritatingly, I knew something was up. “Spit it out. You always do this. You pout about something, and make those stupid cute eyes of yours and wait and wait until I force it out of you...what. is. it?” 

 

“So it’s working?” He grinned. 

 

“Fuck yeah, it’s working. Man, you’re such an attention whore.” So that earned me a loud gasp. Talk about drama queen.  

 

“I am not!” 

 

I lift my brows at him, hoping we don’t hit something. 

 

His eyes narrowed at my lifted brows. “Okay, maybe a little.” 

 

“I can’t lift these brows any higher, McClain.” I felt a chuckle bubbling in my throat.

“Oh my god! Fine! But, I’m your whore.” He smiled wickedly at that comment, causing my whole body to warm up. 

 

“Way to make it sound like I get laid…” My voice scratched at the use of the word  _ laid. _

 

We had been dating for almost an entire month, and we still hadn’t brought up the S-word. I wanted to say it was mostly my fault. Well, it was entirely my fault, not because I was a prude or anything. Let’s just say that sex, sex scares the hell out of me. I’ve seen shit on the internet, I’ve read different slash fanfics to know how far people are willing to go to have a good ol time in the sack. But, for me, I needed to know the basics first. I didn’t want to jump into anything super exclusive and weird. Also, there was the hurting part of sex, and since we were both male, there was the issue of tops and bottoms...Sex, sex was too complicated, and I hated dealing with complicated. 

 

Lance could read my flushed expression, and pretended his comment never happened. Instead he grabs my hand, and laces our fingers. My eyes glance down to our entwined hands, and I made a relieved smile. I was often scared that Lance would want to break up with me since we never talked about the S-word, but we hadn’t even told each other the L-word yet, and even thinking about that put enough pressure on my heart. 

 

“You can be my pimp?” He playfully suggested, still hung up on the whore comment, and pulling me out of my never ending loop of overthinking. 

 

“Lance!!!” I stepped on the brakes, laughing at him flying towards the dashboard and making a loud  _ oof  _ sound again. It was equally hilarious every time. 

 

“No, but, in all seriousness. Why were you pouting so much before things got awkward?” I asked him, taking a turn, not a hard one since the roads were slippery inviting December to join the calendar any moment now. 

 

“Nah, I was just thinking about how much you complemented Pidge on how smart she is, and her amazing  _ organizational skills  _ when I’m fully aware of how equally amazing you are at organizing your own notes. This is stupid...I’ve just felt kind of neglected lately..”

 

“By me?” My voice was low. Full of sorry. 

 

“Yeah. You’re my boyfriend, and I’m kind of sad you, or we can’t be like boyfriends in the open, but you could like shoot me a compliment from time to time...you know to boost my spirit.” His voice went all squeaky, like a small hamster. He was actually undeniably adorable, and I wanted to stop the car and pull at his neck so that I could give him millions of loving kisses all over his sweet face, a kiss for each freckle, that’ll teach him. 

 

“I’m sorry, babe.” I loved calling him babe. “I’ll be better at complimenting you in front of our friends. Make them jealous of how fucking adorable we are together without letting the rest of the world catch on...Although, that’s gonna be really hard.” I smiled brightly at the road, singing a couple lyrics to the song playing. 

 

“Here, let me start right now. I can start by saying how proud I am of you. You know, coming out to my dads, getting closer to wanting to open up to your own parents. Taking it like a champ when Pidge and Hunk outed our relationship.” Lance made a low chuckle. “I’m not done. Let me also throw in how much your stupid smile makes me melt every time I catch it.” He was smiling now, that exact smile I wanted to catch. Fucking adorable. 

 

“Seriously, babe. You need to stop or else I’m gonna crash the car.” I pretend to swerve the car all distressed, but it was no go, Lance was still a smiling mess and all I wanted to do was tell him how much he meant to me. I wanted to keep going on with these sappy words. 

 

We were nearing my house, just a couple more blocks. “Naww, that’s more like it, babe. But the only reason I keep smiling is because of you. Whenever I think about you, my lips can’t help it, they need to show the whole world how happy you make me.” His smile made him look like a drunken sap, and I couldn’t look away, until I noticed a mailbox closing in on my car. 

 

“Fuck..” I quickly made a turn on the wheel, dodging the mail box right on time catching Lance's laugh next to me. “Shit, that was close. See what I mean!?” We were both laughing now. 

 

His words sank in while I made it to my street. “Damn, I can’t fucking win against you. Lance McClain - Smooth Talker of the Year.”

 

“Sure am. But, thanks for trying.” He winked. 

 

_ Thanks for trying? _ Oh no, I was not having that. I wasn’t even trying. Now it was time for trying. “Hey...how about if I say I like you more than birthday cake ice cream? Does that win me any points?” I made a smug face towards the road, knowing that this was me trying. I fucking loved birthday cake ice cream. This was taking the cake. Like literally. 

 

“Are you serious? But you effing love birthday cake ice cream!!” His high tone caught me by surprise. 

 

“Yeah, but I love you more.” 

 

Lance went quiet. I went quiet. Music was still playing. 

 

“Stop the fucking car.” Lance said stern, whispering next to me. 

 

“But, we’re almost home, Lance.”

 

“Stop. the. fucking. car. babe.” 

 

I found a curb to park at. Lance unbuckled his seatbelt, urging me to do the same. When I unbuckled, he lifted his legs to sit in a cross legged position, facing me. The wheel was in the way for me to mirror his sitting position, so instead I turned to the side to stare into his blue-green eyes. The green specks were twirling and dancing like crazy in a body of large sea. Why was he being so weird? 

 

“What is it? Did I hit something? Forget something? We’re like one block away from my house, can we take this drama in there?” I wasn’t having it, crossing my arms, giving him my most darkest glare. 

 

“No, none of that. It’s what you just said, Keith. Say it again.” His brows were having a party on his forehead. 

 

“What? That I love birthday cake ice cream?” Seriously, my attention span while driving usually went down to zero. I didn’t want to hit a kid or a mailbox, and we almost hit a mailbox so take that point. My arms were still crossed and he needed to go on because I still had no idea what he was talking about. 

 

Then it hit me like a mailbox. I said a really important word to him and without even realizing it. Stupid. I was so stupid. I had been waiting to tell him that word for the right and perfect occasion, and then it slips out like it has no meaning. Lance must be furious with me. He deserves a whole parade with a marching band and me singing a song to him like Emma Stone in  _ Easy A _ while I profess my undying love to him. But no, It slips out while I talk about ice cream. Fucking ice cream of all things.  _ Good going, Kogane, _ I think groaning silently to myself. 

 

“Fuck off! You know what you said. Now say it again.” He wasn’t angry, he was smiling, that blue-eyed demon was smiling like crazy. 

 

Two could play at this game. “Fine. But, only if you say please.” My lips curled at the polite word. 

 

Lance humphs. “Keep driving, Mullet.” 

 

“Lance! I don’t want to say it like this! I want to say it at the perfect moment. At the perfect time. You deserve  _ that _ , not while I’m driving, minding my own goddamn business, and comparing you to my favorite ice cream flavor. Sheesh.” 

 

He was laughing now. My chest was blooming with a nice heat, one I always looked forward to whenever I heard his contagious laugh. He uncrossed my arms, planting a palm on my cheek, on instinct I kissed the inside of his palm. He hummed. “But, that’s why it is the perfect moment, the perfect time. It was unexpected. Romantic. It was everything I had wished for for when we tell each other those words, Keith.” 

 

“Well...not you…” I grumbled, not thinking. Apparently, my brain short circuited from time to time and now I was sputtering non-thinkable words. Fuck. 

 

Lance pulled his hand away from my cheek. “What are you talking about?”

 

I looked at the ceiling of my car, then glanced outside to notice it had begun to rain. My finger went to the seat warmer button and pushed them both on. We were going to be here for a while. 

 

“You didn’t say it back.” I said matter of factly to him, receiving a choked sound from him. 

 

He regained his composure, schooching closer to me, as if that were possible because we were trapped in a cramped bright red fiat 500. Although, he did manage to inch his lovely face closer to mine. I could smell the violets wafting from his neck, now only thinking about tasting that delicious golden neck of his.  _ Eyes up at Lance, Keith. _ I trailed my eyes back to my boyfriend, forcing myself not to be tempted by how gorgeous my boyfriend was and wanted this to be over with so that we could kiss and make up, and kiss again and again. 

 

“Yeah, no shit. I was too busy trying to get you to say it again. So that when you said it, I could confess how fucking much I love you back, Jerkface.” He huffed out, crossing his own arms now, craning his neck towards his side of the car. 

 

Jerkface? That one was new. It was better than Mullet, at least. Realization hit us both as we both began laughing. 

 

“Asshole. Now we’ve done it.” I chide at him, dragging the collar of his coat to pull his face closer to mine. 

 

I kiss him lightly on the lips. Like a feather brushing by. 

 

“Shut up, Mullet. It’s out now, there’s no going back so you might as well say it again.” He urges me. Man, he really wanted me to say it again. 

 

I contemplated on him forcing me to say the word again. This was fun. I loved a pining Lance McClain, and wanted more of it. 

 

So instead of saying the word. I turn into a child. Sticking my tongue out at him, and closing my eyes to tilt my head to the side to say, “Nope! I’m saving it for another time. One that’s even more unexpected than a couple minutes ago. And it’s going to be romantic A F.” 

 

He was going to get that marching band. He was going to get me singing a dance number song like in  _ Easy A _ . When I tell him how much I love him again, he was going to get the whole fucking shebang. Because he was Lance, and Lancey-Lance deserved all the love in the world. 

 

Lance’s features softened. He read my scheming face as his smile curled into that wicked, mischievous grin I loved. “Alright, Mullet. You’re on. I’m not saying it again either. Not until it’s super mushy, gushy romantic and makes your whole body red with embarrassment. My confession is going to knock your socks off. It’s going to rock your body. It’s going to be the yee to your haw…”

 

“Lance...I get it. But, you’re on McClain. May the best boyfriend win.” And with that, I finally start the car and drive that last fucking block to park outside my house. 

 

Before we get out, we catch each other’s gazes. “I love you, Keith.” Lance says, grabbing my hand. 

 

“I love you, too, Lance.” I pull his hand to my mouth, kissing it like Mr. Darcy, catching Lance’s swooning face as I tilt my eyes up from his hand.

 

“That doesn’t count, right? Like the contest is still on?” Lance interjected, my lips still on the top of his hand. 

 

I smile in his hand. “You know it is.” 

 

“Awesome. Prepared to be razzle dazzled by your hot boyfriend: Lance McClain.” He opened the door and caught Ruby out on the front step and started shouting her name before he picked her up and spun her around. 

 

“It’s not that hard though.” I said out loud, taking in my awesome boyfriend who I loved very much and couldn’t wait to knock his socks off with my love. 


	49. Santa

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Almost done with the second part of this long ass story. 
> 
> I've been in a different head space these past weeks. I wrote a really hard chapter on Sunday, and the next chapter after that one isn't going to be any better....but once I get that out of the way, hopefully it'll be smooth sailing and I can finish this story during the summer. 
> 
> Just wanna say thanks for all the great comments, and the kudos <3 <3 <3

We could all breathe easily now. Finals were done and out of the way, and Christmas break was a five day countdown away. We even had a countdown written up on the whiteboard in homeroom with Lance’s awful handwriting and his stupid doodles. Today, Monday, the doodle was a chibi version of him holding a candy cane, because guess what? It was Candy Cane Week.

 

Candy Cane Week was an event inspired by Adam’s favorite movie, (Yes, I’m being serious. It’s his all time favorite) _Mean Girls_. It had become a holiday tradition ever since he started working as principal at GP six years ago. The movie came out when he was fifteen and he has seen it at least more than a hundred times, maybe even more, he’s lost count since then.

 

Anyways, he loved the idea of handing out secret santa treats to fellow classmates with hidden messages attached to them. Resulting in Candy Cane Week, that always happened right before Christmas vacation. Students could buy as many candy canes they wanted for a dollar each, writing a secret message and who it will be delivered to, and the money would go to Prom for the seniors, which I thought was a pretty darn good idea, although it would have been better to donate the money to charity since Candy Cane Week was always a huge success.

 

I bought three candy canes. One for Lance, of course, where I wrote down some sappy words like: _You make my heart explode, can’t wait to taste your candy cane sweetened lips._ One for Pidge wishing her a _Merry Christmas and good luck_ , and the last one for Hunk, where I wrote down: _Don’t eat this all in one bite, you’ll choke._ _And yes you can have mine_.

 

Adam always had two students from each year dress up as santas and deliver the candy canes during class. I had no idea who would be dressed up as a santa in our year, but my money was on Ryan or James, or both. We’ll just have to wait and see during homeroom when the santas would make their rounds.

 

I was in the library during lunch, looking for a book to borrow for Christmas break. Lance had come to me this weekend with bad news, telling me he was going to Cuba to visit his grandpa, and other family during Christmas, breaking my heart since I had so much planned for us to do during break, and I wanted to be there when he opened his christmas present from me, but he promised he’d open it on Skype if the internet connection was good, something he couldn’t promise. If not, he would wait until they came back two days before new years eve to open it with me.

 

My hands went for the title I was looking for in the young adult section, flipping through the pages smelling that new book smell I loved. Yeah, book nerds legit do that. As I was admiring my successful scavenging, I heard a rustle two sections down from where I stood and wanted to scout out what was going on.

 

To my surprise as I neared a lonely corner all the way in the back of library, I could hear low grunting noises and a bubbling giggle from a woman's throat. I would assume a woman as her voice sounded oddly familiar. I kept still as a ninja, my back leaned against the end of the shelves when I craned my neck to the side to catch Miss Allura canoodling with a secret santa. _Oh shitballs,_ I thought and quickly made my way two sections back to the young adult books before I was caught.

 

Miss Allura making out with a student? That couldn’t be, she was the strictest teacher at this school and wouldn’t go as far to lip lock with a student and risk losing her job, would she? My heart was hammering in my chest, my throat clogging up and the blood in my veins going hot, scared out of my mind to have them find me. I did not need that awkward scenario to happen in real life, with Miss Allura finding me here looking at books and her white blouse disheveled with a button or two loose, and her dark hair tousled after what looked like a very heated session between teacher and student.

 

Footsteps were making their way towards the YA section, and within a blink of an eye I opened my book and hid my face behind the book hoping to Santa that they didn’t catch me. Miss Allura walked past me, not even batting an eye my way, and behind her the secret santa, who I could not figure out who it was trudged a couple seconds behind her going to the left as Miss Allura went right greeting our school librarian with a fake smile, her blouse straightened and buttoned up along with her hair that had been smoothed down leaving no trace of her sucking face with a younger student.

 

“I need to find Lance.” I whispered distressedly to myself and dashed out of the library to find my boyfriend.

 

There was still fifteen minutes left of lunch and I found Lance, Pidge, Hunk, Ryan and James all circled around our usual lunch table talking about the upcoming break. Someone tapped me hard on the shoulder, turning around to find Acxa and Ezor planting their butts on the table since there wasn’t room to sit down.

 

“Keith! Where you’ve been? We were discussing if Lance could get even tanner than he already is when he goes to Cuba.” James made a smirky face, finally feeling like part of the gang and happy to be here and actually wondering where I was.

 

“Yeah, man. Sit next to me, we still have time to chat before next period.” Ryan pushed Lance to the side to make room for me to sit down next to him. Which was not awkward at all, since Lance made a pouty face at me when Ryan pushed him knowing we couldn’t tell them we were dating and just had to go along with this.

 

I sat down smacked between Lance and Ryan, and felt an arm slung around my shoulders thinking it was Lance, but no, it was Ryan’s strong arm draped around me all securely not letting Lance even have a shot at gripping my hands without being caught.

 

 _Sorry,_ I mouthed at him, earning an apologetic grin and noticing the green specks in his eyes going dull at seeing me and Ryan close to each other. “I was in the library, needed a book for Christmas break.” I held up the book I borrowed and the whole table erupted in snickers and clicking of their tongues.

 

“A book!? Who the hell wants to read during break? You’re going out with us, Mullet.” Acxa crossed her legs, bumping an elbow at Ezor’s side who was nodding like crazy at her suggestion.

 

Mullet? Were they going to call me that too now? That motherfuck- “Lance! Look what you’ve done, make them stop.” I crossed my arms and started shaking when Ryan was laughing hysterically next to me still not letting go of my shoulders and catching Lance’s fiery blue gaze at him.

 

Lance stood up, his hands turning into fists, but they released when he turned to look at Ryan and I with a fake grin on his golden face. “Candy canes. I need to buy a few candy canes before they close the stand. Wanna come join me?” He asked me, but Ryan was the one who answered.

 

“That’s right! I have a few I want to buy, you too Keefy?” He used a different nickname on me, his dark face turning into an adorable animal, and I could feel the heat of Lance’s jealous aura radiate off of him. What was his problem? Ryan was only being friendly.

 

Pidge was on her DS minding her own business, and Hunk was talking with Ezor not paying attention to what was happening five minutes before the bell was going to ring. “We need to go now if we want to buy any. Come on, let’s goooo.” Lance was pulling on my red christmas sweater, one he bought me a week ago with a Gundam Robot on it wearing antlers.

“Pidge? Hunk? Candy canes?” I asked them before we went to find the stand that was selling them.

 

“Nah, we already bought ours. Remember the bet, Mullet.” Pidge made an evil smirk also using my nickname. How was this turning into a regular thing? Make it stop.  

 

We made a bet last year that whoever could eat their candy cane the fastest without biting it would make the other person do what the winner tells them. I was not looking forward to this because she knew I was dating Lance and she was guaranteed going to make me do something stupid with Lance or do something cheesy with my boyfriend just to make fun of me. We made this bet before I even knew who Lance was, but how would I know I’d find a boyfriend senior year? Not me, that’s for sure.

 

“Ooooh. Are we meeting at your place to do the candy cane eating contest?” Hunk was working with some kind of crochet thing and nothing to do with food. A gift for Shay maybe, what a loverboy.

 

I didn’t have time to answer him when Lance dragged me to find the candy cane stand. Ryan and James were on our tail when we found the stand covered in red and white striped candy canes and assorted holiday themed cards to write a message in to attach to the candy cane. All anonymous of course, but the messages were usually easy to decipher since our closest friends always sent them.  

 

Since I had bought mine already, I decided to stay in line next to Lance who hadn’t bought his yet, and I expected him to buy me one, or else he would lose major boyfriends points with me. Something he already did when he told me he was leaving me for Cuba - warm, sunny Cuba - instead of being here in the cold with me and snuggle up to my warm body.

 

“What’s with the pout, Mullet.” He flicked my nose, but I knew he wanted to do something else but that would be hard here in the open corridor in front of everyone we knew.

 

Ryan was in front of us in the line. He turned around wearing a blinding smile. “How many you getting, McClain?” He asked happily, never a frown on that boy’s face, huh.

 

Lance held his chin thinking. “I dunno, like ten. I have a bunch of chicas who need to know they’re loved by Lancey-Lance.” He winked a blue-green eye at us.

 

I closed my eyes and breathed heavily in knowing it was a ploy to divert everyone thinking we were dating, but I’m not going to lie and say I didn’t want to wring his neck and turn his body inside out when he said that.

 

“Next!” The girl from the stand called and Ryan moved to her, holding up two fingers and choosing two cards with a cute penguin on them.

 

I caught Lance turning quickly on his heel. “Dude! Ryan totally has the hots for you…” He whispered in my ear, and my cheeks felt flushed from his observation.

 

I furrowed my brows at him, laughing off his stupid comment. “Lance, he does not. You’re being ridiculous.” I pointed out, looking away to hide my red cheeks.

 

Lance moved close to Ryan, who was bent over holding a pen in his right hand writing in the cards. “Seriously, he’s writing a love poem in one of the cards. If that makes its way to you, I swear to Go-”

 

I clamp my hand over his mouth. “Calm down. It won’t make its way to me. Ryan likes girls, and it’s obvious that candy cane is making its way to Carol or Lacey. Or both since he bought two. Ignore Ryan, okay. He doesn’t like me like that, I promise. I have other news.” I turned and saw Ryan was still busy writing.

 

“I saw Miss Allura making out with someone in the library.” I said super low, my hand still clamped on his mouth, catching his ocean eyes growing bigger and bigger.

 

“Nooooo.” He shouted when I pulled my hand away, and everyone turned to look at him. “Nothing to see here folks except a smokin hot delinquent wearing an ugly christmas sweater.” He saved himself, shooting finger guns at everyone. “Who? Tell me, tell me, tell me!” He had grabbed on to my shoulders jumping like a little kid.

 

“I don’t know. He was wearing a secret santa suit…” I said, and jolted when the girl shouted next.

 

Lance made his way to the girl and commented on her blouse, but his eyes where clearly aimed at what was popping out of her blouse. The nerve of him. He was playing this secret boyfriend card a little too well at school, but i can’t say it wasn’t getting on my nerves not knowing if he really was enjoying looking at the girls’ cleavages.

 

He caught my sad expression staring at his ogling her blouse, and his happy face sunk, quickly scribbling down on the single candy cane he bought, not ten like he said but Ryan had gone to class since the bell rang two minutes ago and he gave me a hunky wink on the way which made me not want to interpret that at the moment.

 

Lance grabbed my hand when he was done writing on his candy cane and gave it to the girl behind the stand. “Come on.”

 

“Lance! We have class!” I shouted, but he ignored me, dragging me to a familiar door.

 

He slammed the music room door when we both made it inside. “Screw class...we only have Coran, he won’t even notice we’re gone. Besides we’re just going to watch a movie anyways, no fucking learning in that. I’d much rather do this.”

 

He grabbed my face and pushed me against the door, crashing his lips onto mine. We kissed desperately, his lips sucking on mine as the desire in his eyes lit up when we released each other. “Fuck.” I swallowed, staring at his swollen, plumped lips turning into a wicked smile.

 

“I wasn’t looking at her breasts, Keith. You know I have to keep an act up if we don’t want anyone knowing about us. I’m sorry if you felt like I was looking at anyone else. I only want to look at you.” He looped his arms around my waist, still pinning me against the music room door, nuzzling his face in the crook of my neck. “I want you, Keith, and only you.” He said muffled in my neck.

 

My hand slammed his arms a couple times as my face surrendered on the crown of his head. “Sorry. I got jealous. I didn’t mean to look so sad. It’s just that you’re leaving on Friday and I won’t get to see you for two weeks, I don’t know if I can survive that.” I laughed stupidly at him, and at myself for being a lovesick, clingy boyfriend.

 

Lance pulled back and kissed the tip of my nose, then rested them on my own lips, letting them linger while he made a pleasing hum. “Man, I could do this all day. But, we should head to class after all, I think they’re going to hand out the candy canes at the end of class.”

 

Mr. Coran didn’t even notice Lance and I sneaking into the darkly lit classroom while a Christmas movie was playing on the smart board on the wall. My gaze glanced at him, and he had his legs lifted on his desk, his head lolled back in a slumber waiting for break to start.

 

Lance and I found our seats next to Ryan and James, waiting for the door to open and spill in a secret santa with our candy canes. Speaking of, right on cue when we both landed on our chairs, the door opened up and revealed a student wearing a Santa costume, a really good one too. You wouldn’t have recognized who was behind the beard until he opened his mouth, and then it all made sense.

 

“Mr. Coran! Can you pause the movie, it’s time for candy canes to make their rounds!” Lotor said in a creepy happy tone, holding the basket filled with candy canes.

 

My steel eyes grew larger than the universe and I turned around to Lance who woke up with a startle looking at my mouth mouthing the words, _It was Lotor._ And realization hit the delinquent like a bucket of ice cold water splashed in his face. We could have been wrong, but, thinking about the odd stares and the weird behavior between the two. And not to mention the fucking santa suit. Lotor and Miss Allura where making out in secret, and who knew what else they were doing.

 

Lotor moved around the classroom saying names out loud and throwing candy canes at the students. “Lance McClain, four for you Lance McClain, you go Lance McClain!” Lotor was way too into this and what would the chances be for Lance to snag four candy canes to be able to receive a _Mean Girls_ quote. This school, seriously, let me dig a hole to hide in.

 

“Keith Kogane, five for you, player!” Lotor tried to snicker when he threw a bundle of five red and white striped candy canes towards me. Ryan’s eyes had followed my candy canes in the air, landing in my hands and when he caught my gaze, a smile peeled on his handsome face.

 

Lance cleared his throat saying, _told ya_ through his cough. I kicked his shin behind me, shutting the doofus up. Once the rounds were made, Lotor made a new go at being happy with a creepy, jolly santa laugh bellowing from him before he closed the door on us. That’s going to give me nightmares.

 

“Alright, look at your candies and get the hell out of here.” Mr. Coran turned off the movie, planting himself back on his chair, his legs raised on his desk again going back to snoozeland.

 

My first candy cane was from Pidge where she wrote: _Loser has to tell Lance how awesome he is and not groan at his gloating._ Ugh, not looking forward to that.

 

My second candy cane was from Hunk: _Can I have your candy cane, Keith. I know you hate candy canes. Please, love Hunk._ Precious Hunk, I thought rolling my eyes.

 

My third candy cane was surprisingly from Adam: _Merry Christmas, son! Can you give this candy cane to Hunk, he asked me to write this down. xD_ Seriously, he even made that laughing, crying emoji. I’m going to need a bigger shovel for that hole to sink in.

 

My penultimate candy cane was what I thought would be from Lance since there was a poem written in it, but I recognized the penguin on the card. The poem inside was short and sweet when I read:

 

_One as long as the month will be when you’re gone_

_With just hint of pain in every page_

_A dash of happiness in every sentence_

_Just to get the feeling I will feel when you are gone_

 

_I want to write you a book_

 

“Dude, he totally has thing for you. You need to make him stop, no one is going to steal my man away from me.” I heard Lance huffed behind me when I read the candy cane from whom I presumed was from Ryan. He even smiled at me when I read the note in the candy cane and I smiled back, but felt a slap at the back of my head.

 

“Lance!” I screeched, but he pointed an angry finger at Ryan, then at me to figure this out and quick.

 

If this were true then I had to let the guy down. My first crush, the guy who helped me figure out I liked men in freshman year without him even knowing it and now I had to confront him and turn him down.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lemme give you a little hint. The next chapter is called, Ryan.


	50. Ryan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all <3 Sorry it took so long to update. This week is going to be bananas too. Almost school vacation and then I will (hope) have all the time in the world to write. Just hope my motivation is with me. I've been struggling to write the next chapter...I want it to be good, and I want to be in the right mood when I write it, so I'm waiting until this week is DONE. 
> 
> (Being a teacher can be really stressful, specially during exam period.) Hope you all have a lovely day, night, evening. <3 And that you like the chapter. :)

All through P.E., Ryan was making weird eyes at me. They were eyes I saw on Lance during the same P.E. class. Fuck, that self-absorbed dingus I call my boyfriend was right. Ryan Kinkade had a thing for me. 

 

I really didn’t want this to be true, so I decided not to do anything about it and try to let it take its course. If I didn’t pay Ryan any attention then he’d get the hint and back off. That had to work, I was smart, this was smart thinking, right? 

 

Wrong. 

 

In the locker room, Lance was making a cold stare at Ryan probably hoping he wouldn’t stare at me undressing, but now I had two seniors staring at me undressing and it was uncomfortable as fuck. 

 

I opened my locker door to hide my naked state and find a towel. “Lance, can you look that way.” I urged him trying to hint at that I didn’t want to be looked at, hoping Ryan took the hint, too. 

 

I can admit I didn’t mind Lance staring at my naked body, but my stomach still made twists and turns, and my heart would find its usual spot in my throat when I knew Lance was staring at my naked body. We had been going out a month and a half and we haven’t gone that far, only kissing. I haven’t even touched his bare stomach since that day in the arcade for what seems likes ages ago. 

 

Did I want to touch Lance’s bare body? Hell yeah I did. Was I terrified to touch Lance’s bare body and the thought about going further than that? Hell to the fucking yes. Super terrified. I wasn’t ready yet, and I hoped Lance knew that too, which I’m sure he does since he hasn’t tried anything with me yet, and we’ve had chances too but he was careful with me and I felt lucky to have him. 

 

Lance made an angry grunt when he went to the showers butt naked, slinging a towel over his shoulder and dragging James with him. “Hey, Keith?” I heard next to me when I wrapped a towel around my waist. 

 

Ryan was wearing a towel around his own wait, a relieved sigh leaving my throat without thinking. “Sup, Kinkade?” I smiled warmly at him, closing my locker door to get to the showers and join Lance and the guys. 

 

Suddenly, my mind was in replay and I caught Ryan’s hand on my locker above my head, trapping me beneath him. Fuck, not this and it’s not even remotely hot, at least not for me since I loved Lance and wouldn’t mind him doing this again. 

 

I swallowed, feeling the pump of my heart in my chest, not of being nervous but more of being frightened that I had to turn him down because obviously, Ryan was going to ask me out. Behind him, I caught Lance staring at us with daggers in his eyes. I rose my brows at him to stay put. He did as told, waiting with his hands planted firmly on his hips and grinding his teeth to hold back any biting words at our handsome dark-skinned friend. 

 

“I was wondering if you wanted to maybe catch a movie this weekend. You know, since Lance is leaving, I thought you’d finally be alone and I could take you out.” His smile had spread widely across his face, and it was going to hurt to tell him no, but dude deserves to know but I needed to talk to Lance too about this. 

 

Lance heard the whole thing, and he was making his way over to us and my hands were up in the air to tell him to stop walking but he kept on going, going… “Now you listen here, Kin-Kade. Keith is not free this Saturday, not then, not ever!” Lance had grabbed hold of Ryan’s shoulder and turned him around to plant him hard against the locker next to me. 

 

I ran my hand across my face with low groan. “Lance! Not like this! Put your fucking fist down! This our fault, not his.” Lance’s fist was in the air, ready to make a dent in Ryan’s face. His blue eyes were blazed with jealousy and I had to sustain a chuckle, and force my lips down to not smile, because my love for this boy was growing by the second and he looked hot with a towel slug around his defined stomach, water dripping from his brown head. 

 

“Go. Get. Dressed.” I went close to Lance. “Can I tell him about us? That’ll make this so much easier. Please Lance.” I pleaded in his ear, and he didn’t say anything just lowered his fist making a sad look at Ryan. 

 

“Sorry dude. Misunderstandings. The fuck you looking at, Griffin? Come on!” Lance grabbed James to go get dressed. 

 

“Can we meet in the parking lot after school? We can talk about what just happened. I promise, Lance doesn’t hate you.” Ryan nodded and grabbed his things to go shower. 

 

In the parking lot, I found Ryan leaned against my car. Lance decided not to come with me which could mean he didn’t want me to tell Ryan about us, still being hung up on not letting anyone know about his bisexuality. 

 

Ryan was wearing a long, black winter coat and a grey wool winter hat planted over his ears. “Hey.” I chucked my hands in my coat pockets, keeping warm. December was so fucking cold, and we didn’t even have snow yet. Disappointing. 

 

“Hey.” Ryan looked down at the pavement, avoiding my gaze. 

 

“Listen what happened with Lance in there. He was just being protected of me. He’s my best friend, and he knows I’m gay and well...I’m not ready for relationships and stuff like that and he knows about that and…” Telling Ryan a lie like this was hard, my mouth was going dry in the cool, crisp air and my ears were burning. He deserved the truth in my opinion. 

 

“Ryan do you have feelings for me? Like do you like men, or?” I asked straight out, trying to get some answers.

 

Ryan made a laugh with his nose. “I don’t know. You’re the first boy I’ve ever felt like this for.” He said quietly, still looking at the pavement, kicking at nothing with his black shoes. “These past months, I just feel happy around you, Keith. And I felt jealous of McClain...I guess. I don’t know if these are romantic feelings or anything, but I like hanging out with you.” He smiled to the ground, his dark chocolate eyes looking glazed. 

 

“I like hanging out with you too, Kinkade. It’s just that…” I looked up at the bright blue sky thinking about a pair of beautiful blue eyes that always pulled me to him. 

 

“You like someone else?” Ryan let out a low chuckle. 

 

I caught his smiling face, a sheen of something wet in his eyes. “Yeah. I do. A lot, too.” I admitted. 

 

“Cool. Can I ask you one thing, though. If it’s not too much, I just need to know. Like confirm these feelings that they’re like authentic and not something I have conjured up for fun...get it…” He started rubbing the back of his neck, his cheeks turning maroon. 

 

“What are you thinking?” I tilted my head at him. 

 

“Can I..hum...can I kiss you, Keith? Just one...that’s all I’m asking.” He moved closer to me, his hand landing on my cheek to pull me closer to his face. 

 

I thought about Lance, and thought he might let me do this just to get closure on this whole Ryan debacle. Hopefully, he wasn’t around to see this, and I’ll tell him everything afterwards. The guy asked nicely and it was only one kiss, it wouldn’t be counted as cheating would it? Even if it was only to experiment. I knew deep, deep down in my heart that my feelings for Ryan were long gone when Lance came into my life, and this kiss would mean nothing to me, it was just to help out a friend. 

 

“S-Sure.” I stuttered, and Ryan smiled sadly leaning in to plant his big, soft lips on top of mine. 

 

Kissing Ryan felt odd, almost like how I would imagine kissing a girl. It was not pleasant, and I needed Lance’s lips this instant. He pulled away catching my awkward stare at his face, his sad smile coming back reading how much I did not enjoy our kiss. But hopefully, it helped confirm some unspoken things and intruding thoughts he’d been having about boys. 

 

“Well?” I asked, wanting to wipe my mouth but that would be rude. 

 

Ryan looked away, blinking rapidly to hide he was upset. “I liked it, Keith. But, it was clear as day to see you didn’t like it. I’m sorry I asked you to do this.” He wiped his sleeve across his eyes, his bright smile back on his face as if nothing happened. “But still, thank you. It helped me confirm some things about myself.”

 

“Great. That’s great, Kinkade. Nothing is better than knowing who you truly are. I’m sorry I couldn’t like you back, I really do like someone else, and I’m sure whoever ends up with you will be the luckiest person in the world. You’re an amazing guy, you’re handsome and funny and super down to earth. You don’t find that many guys like that nowadays. They’re mostly obnoxious and self-absorbed.” I thought about a certain delinquent who stole my heart, smiling to myself. 

 

Ryan closed the gap between us, hugging me tightly. “Thanks Keith! I hope we can still be friends, and not let this ruin anything between us. I still want to hang out with you and the guys.” He whispered in my ear, and I patted his back nodding. 

 

“Hey! Not all guys are self-absorbed. Just this hunky loverboy.” Lance broke our hug, grabbing my waist with his hands, and slinging one of his arms around my waist to make us look like a couple in front of Ryan. “I want in on that sugar too, Mullet.” Lance snickered next to me and let go of my waist when he caught Ryan into a large bear hug. 

 

“Keith and I will support you no matter what, Ryan. If you have feelings for a dude, which I can understand, Mullet here is hot as hell but he’s taken...You’re allowed to like dudes. You’re way braver than me who can’t even come out to their own parents or even the school.” He blabbered all in one go, grabbing hold of my waist again taking possession over me. 

 

Understanding washed over our star athlete. “I see you have your struggles too, McClain. Everything makes sense now.” He smiled brightly at the two of us and our confused stares. “I can see how much you two love each other, and that makes me happy. I’m happy to be your friend guys.” He started moving towards the school to leave us alone.

 

“Not so fast Kinkade. We’re heading to see a movie with the gang, we need our star athlete to tag along, the others are pussies when it comes to horror flicks.” Lance grabbed hold of his collar to pull him back, winking a blue-green eye at our friend. 

 

Ryan made his way to the school to find James and Acxa and Ezor to join our movie. Lance and I waved him goodbye, then I rested my head on Lance’s shoulder. “You saw us, huh?” I asked him, making a low groan waiting for him to rip my head off for kissing another guy. 

 

Lance pinched my cheek, the biting cold making the pain hurt more. “I deserved that.” I rubbed the sore spot, catching my boyfriend’s infectious laugh. “Well yeah, but it was the right thing to do. But don’t go kissing guys who ask nicely now. Ryan was the only exception. I need those plumped lips all to myself.” He snagged a quick kiss while the parking lot was still empty with hallowed cars. 

 

“I was thinking about you the entire time.” I promised him, pulling him back to my lips, opening my mouth to invite him in for some tongue time. He tasted like candy canes and I wanted to honestly gag, but I would pull through and withstand the too sweet taste of artificial peppermint flavor. 

 

He made a low moan, and I kept on kissing him, twirling my tongue with his, washing it over his teeth, moaning quietly back indicating that we were soon going past just kissing. His body against mine was becoming way too tempting and all this kissing was making my body go berserk with want for more. 

 

I could feel how swollen my lips were when Lance smiled in front of me, licking his lips all sexily. “I’m not saying it, dingus...but you know how much I…” I kissed him again, hearing him hum an  _ uh-huh _ in my mouth and that was all the confirmation I needed. 

 

“Oh, and I loved your poem, you fucking cheesy sap.” I jabbed his side, opening my side of the car to get in waiting for him to plop down in the passenger seat, and for Hunk and Pidge to find us. 

 

“Hey! I had like minutes to come up with something, Mullet.” Lance yelled while he made his way to his side of the car. 

 

I rolled my eyes at him, wishing he weren’t leaving for Cuba on Friday.  


	51. Missed

The familiar sing song tune of the doorbell never turned off until I grabbed at the door handle, opened the door and flicked the nose of a handsome Cuban wearing the widest, most brilliant smile in front of me. 

 

“You’re back!” I cried out, wrapping my arms around Lance, then lifting him up from the doorstep. 

 

I squeezed him tightly in my arms, nuzzling my cheek against his cheek while making cooing noises of how much I missed him and how tan he had gotten even though we all knew it was impossible to get any tanner than he already was, and commenting on how long his hair on the back of his neck was getting, and…

 

“Muuu-llet!” He tried to press through with his voice while still squeezed by my cheek against his cheek. 

 

“Yeah.” I hummed with my eyes closed, dreaming of this day to finally come. 

 

“I..I need to be able to breathe if you want a boyfriend who can give you your christmas present.” He forced out with a choking voice. 

 

I let go of him, grabbing the hand that didn’t hold my present from him. “I just missed you so fucking much, Lance -”

 

“Keith!” I faltered forward on my left foot at the sudden yell of Adam’s voice. “Ruby is right behind you.” His hazel eyes flashed with anger behind his glasses when both Lance and I tipped our heads into the foyer and caught a small monster giving us a weird stare. 

 

Lance and I both made grimaces at each other thinking,  _ please don’t say it, please don’t say it.  _ If she said it, I’ll be grounded and won’t be able to go to Lacey’s new years party tonight. Ruby opened her mouth slightly, both Lance and I closed our mouths to grit our teeth together and clench our jaws hoping, praying that Ruby won’t say the word. 

 

“Hi, Lance! Is that a christmas present for me?” We both slumped over in relief. Lance slung a hand around my waist, pulling me in to kiss my cheek. Man, I missed him, and his lips on my skin. When they caught my cheek, my whole body bloomed with warmth, and a happy smile found my face. 

 

“Sure, kiddo.” He unlaced the blue tie on the present and it magically turned into two presents. He really was a magician, the fuck? “Here you go, all the way from the magical land called Cuba.” He did that thing with his hands from that time he wanted to explain my campaign posters. Thinking about that made the election seem so long ago, but it was only two and a half months ago.  

 

Ruby grabbed the oddly shaped present and ran into the living room to show her daddy and papa. “Look what Lance got me!” She shouted, being welcomed with curious sounds from both Shiro and Adam who had snuggled up into each other on the sofa. 

 

I made my way back into the house, jolting at the sudden slap on my ass turning around to catch Lance waggling his thin brown brows at me. Looks like a certain delinquent missed his boyfriend, too. “Lance…” I made a face at him to not try something like that when my parents and kid sister was right there in the living room. 

 

“What? I missed you, Mullet. Can’t I just reclaim what is mine after being gone for 14 days, sheesh.” He chuckled while peeling off his black long coat. 

 

He was wearing a dark blue button down and black jeans, his hair smoothed down to the side, looking all snazzy and hunky for tonight’s party. “What?” He made a crooked smile and leaned in to kiss my cheek again. He could have aimed for the mouth, but my snapping at him might have scared him a bit. 

 

I made a slide with my eyes to stare at the ceiling, not thinking about how damn good my boyfriend was looking and what he was doing to my body. “Nothing. You look fine, Lance McClain.” I curved his cheek with my palm, catching the softness of his features. 

 

“Coming from you, I believe it.” He laced his fingers with my hand and pulled me into the kitchen. Away from my family, thank you so much Lance. 

 

He carefully pushed me against the kitchen counter, putting the present for me on top of the counter next to us, and then planting his hands on it as well, standing in front of me, not letting me get away as he leaned closer and closer to my face. 

 

“Hey, you.” My cheeks burned at the look he was giving me. It was different from his softness from before, one of pure desire and I didn’t know where to look besides the green splattered specks in layers of blue. 

 

Instead of answering him with the same tone of voice, I much rather show him what his face was doing to me by tipping forward and catching his lips with mine, deepening the kiss, showing him how much I missed them and him. He parted my lips with his tongue, making its way into my mouth to give my tongue a nice whirl of pleasure. We released. Lance licked his lips all satisfied and I mirrored him, catching a wave and a bright white smile dazzling my eyes. 

 

“You gonna wear that to the party?” He looked me up and down with the waves, furrowing his brows. 

 

I was wearing a Power Rangers t-shirt, and grey sweatpants, and I can’t say my hair was looking refined either, it definitely needed some smoothing, especially after making out with Lance against the kitchen counter. 

 

“Whoop! PDA-alert.” Shiro averted his gaze when he walked in on me and Lance with our foreheads against each other. 

 

He opened the fridge to grab the cheese and assorted meats for their own new years party tonight. Shiro had everything planned out when it came to the menu. The finest of red wines, and the best of stinky old cheese and smelly meats. Glad I was not staying was all I thought. 

 

“Good to have you back, Lance. We thought Keith was going to start a solo career as a heart-throbbing singer, singing for his lost love.” 

 

Lance cocked a brow. “He was miserable without you here. The girls (Ezor and Acxa) tried to force him out a few times, and Pidge and Hunk have been over every day these past weeks, but his face has stayed the same. Miserable.” Shiro hummed, cocking his own black brow at my threatening stare at him. 

 

“I wasn’t that miserable, just…” I tried to find the perfect word to describe my life without Lance present. “Afflicted.” I saved, but received a hearty laugh from my dad. 

 

“Same thing, kiddo.” He kicked the fridge door shut. “When you guys heading out? You can have two beers, Keith, no more, no less.” 

 

“No less?” 

 

“Yeah, you’re 18 and you’ve probably never had a beer before being terrified what it would do to you. Loosen up, be a teenager for once, this is your first real party.” Shiro smiled happily at his son. 

 

“You know you’re a cop, right? And I’m underage…” My face was making twisting gestures at the thought of my dad, a captain of a precinct nonetheless, is pushing me to drink a beer, or two. 

 

“As long as it’s one or two and you come home safely. Lance you’re driving, right? So absolutely no alcohol for you.” He shot a finger gun at my boyfriend. They spend too much time together, I groaned at the two of them and their shanghai noon showdown. “Oh, and I want you home by 1AM. We’re going to nana’s tomorrow and you know how she is when you look sleepy.”

 

“Yeah, she’ll kill me with her deathly grip of cheek pulling.” I could feel the pain already, no wonder Adam turned out the way he is, I thought when I touched my palm to my soon to be pinched cheek. 

 

“And you’re more than welcome to join us, Lance. I bet Adam’s folks and Rosa would love to meet Keith’s boyfriend.” Lance made a twisted face that mirrored mine, catching his neck with the palm of his hand, laughing maniacally. “Unless, you still haven’t...” 

 

“No, I haven’t...sorry. Time went so fast in Cuba, and I was planning on telling the whole family about me and Keith, but…” He closed his mouth, definitely keeping something back, not wanting to tell me and Shiro, or maybe just Shiro?  

 

“Some other time then. I need to get these out on the table before the guests arrive, and Rosa will be here soon to pick up Ruby. Remember to give her a kiss goodbye before you leave, you two.” Shiro left the kitchen, leaving me alone with Lance again. 

 

The air in the room had changed to something stuffy. Like someone had released a smoke bomb and wanted to choke out everyone with it. “Listen Keith...I promise to tell them, it’s just that-”

 

I left the kitchen without a word, leaving my boyfriend hanging. Walking up the stairs became heavier by the second when I put one foot in front of the other hearing Lance call my name behind me. His hand caught my elbow when I reached my room, staring inside the open door. “Lance, let go.” 

 

He released my elbow as I made my way to the closet to find something to wear for tonight’s party, letting Lance’s stubborn voice become white noise. But, it was no use, his voice was so distinct and so familiar. “It’s okay!” I half-shouted, keeping my voice low enough not to upset my dads downstairs, or Ruby for that matter, she didn’t need to see her big brother upset at Lance. 

 

“I’m not mad...just...I dunno. I know you said before graduation, and that’s like almost 6 months from now, but I want to be out, Lance. I want people to see how much I…” I bit back the word, remembering our contest, still wanting to make saying the word the grandest thing in the whole wide world. Because he’s Lance. My Lance. 

 

He came up from behind me when I held the red shirt I wanted to wear tonight, wrapping both his arms around my waist, his face rubbing against my jaw from behind. Soft, that skin, damn, I needed to know what he used because he was so fucking soft to the touch. “Soon, I promise. Things have been going surprisingly well at home. My parents..” He whispered in my ear, his breath of spearmint bubblegum tickling my ear, catching his smile from behind me. “they see me now, Keith. I’m being noticed for the first time in forever by them, and it makes me so happy…” 

 

There were words left unsaid, and I didn’t know what to interpret from how quiet he became, still feeling the tug of his arms around my waist, his lips planted softly on the skin of my neck, then felt them along my throat, dragging at last to my scar. A hitch left my throat at that, and I made him let go of me to find the bathroom in a haste with my clothes. 

 

In the bathroom, I let the water run, splashing my face with cold water thinking about other things besides Lance kissing my neck and dragging his lips along it to my scar. Fuck, it felt amazing, sending ripples of shivers down my spine and further down..I swallowed some of the water that went into my mouth, catching my reflection in the mirror. 

 

Man, my cheeks were red like the christmas lights on our tree, that wasn’t dying, nope not yet, even though the needles were slightly turning brown. I shook my head rapidly, pulling some of my hair up in a low bun, looking like a known soccer player. I buttoned my red shirt, then the black vest I wanted to put on over it along with black slacks. My throat bobbed at my reflection resurfacing when I tipped my head up after buttoning the vest. I hoped Lance found me desirable. I certainly found him very attractive and alluring, enticing, sexy. A new gulp formed in my throat and I made my way out and back to my room, finding Lance laying sprawled on my bed. 

 

“Fuck.” He dropped the yellow Gameboy Color in his hand to look at me with his mouth slightly ajar. 

 

“Ready to leave, Lancey-Lance?” I looked away because his staring became too much for my cheeks, and he didn’t need to know all of the things I just thought about him, we hadn’t gotten that far yet and I still wasn’t sure where I was when it came to it. 

 

Lance picked up the Gameboy, setting it back on my dresser and gave me my present. “You need to open it before we leave, Mullet.” He kissed my cheek lovingly. “Merry Christmas that was, errr, 6 days ago.” 

 

I tore at the wrapping paper to find a figurine of some sort of wood carving of a monkey with boobs. I also found two cigars and a packet of grounded Cuban coffee. “Lance, the hell is this monkey. It’s amazing.” I admired the booby monkey, smiling brightly at and placing it next to the Gameboy on my dresser. 

 

“It’s made out of coconuts. It reminded me of you in some weird way. The cigars, well because, duh. And the coffee because you love coffee and the smell of coffee, and I really like you smelling like coffee.” He dodged a certain word, hugging me tightly. “We need to roll if we’re going to pick up Hunk and Pidge on the way. The others will meet us there.” He grabbed my hand and ran down the stairs with me on his tail. 

 

“Ruby!” Lance let go of my hand when we reached the foyer to put on our jackets and shoes. Ruby was holding her own booby monkey, smiling happily at Lance and I. “Thank you, Lance. She’s so cool. I’m going to call her Dotty.” She hugged her monkey, and melted both me and Lance into a puddle. 

 

My mind wandered to what the future could hold if Lance and I stayed together and we had our own kid, and if the kid would be just as adorable and awesome like Ruby. Of course, if Lance were the father, our kid would be the coolest. I felt a bonk on the top of my head. “Hello, Earth to Mullet. You look like you were thinking about something nice. Did it start with an L and end with an E?” He made a sexy look with his face and I to focus on Ruby to stop any unwanted, sinful thoughts.  

 

“Yes, I was thinking about Luke Evans.” I made a noise you made when you thought about something delicious. Lance’s mouth fell into a frown. 

 

“Let’s go...Maybe Gaston can be your midnight new years kiss.” He muttered the name like a frenchman, but also like a big baby on the way out. 


	52. Bare

“Keith! Lance! You guys are actually here! And you brought Pidge and Hunk, too!!!!” Lacey’s fingers were wrapped around the neck of a Bailey’s bottle when she screamed all of our names at the front door. 

 

“Ryan take this.” She ordered, then glomped Pidge when we all made it inside. “Piiiiidge, you’re the most adorable of the lot, I’m so happy you could come.” Her drunken voice seeped through, but nothing slurred or anything, she was just a happy drunk. 

 

Ryan and James greeted us while Lacey kept on hugging Pidge, which was adorable, looking at Pidge’s bored expression, but I could sense a hint of a smile at the attention she was getting from our platinum blonde, blue-eyed class attendant. She was enjoying this so much. 

 

“The others are in here.” Ryan waved a hand, avoiding my eyes after what happened before break. We still haven’t been able to go back to normal since that day, and it was bugging me because Ryan’s a great guy, and I still wanted to be friends with him and not let his crush on me be a bother, but seems like he was still hung up on the situation at hand, and knows what Lance is capable of, being the jealous one of the two of us. I swear, he can be more jealous than me even though I would kill a man if he touched my man. 

 

Hunk darted to his girlfriend when he found her surrounded by Ezor, Acxa and Carol on one of the sofas in the large, very large, living room. Shay was a really nice girl, perfect for Hunk. They were perfect for each other. She had long milk-chocolate hair that went well with her dark complexion and caramel colored eyes. Her whole face lit up in the room when Hunk glomped his girlfriend. If those two didn’t get married first from our group then something was wrong with the universe, it was clear to see how much they loved each other. Shay was already feeding Hunk with one of the snacks on the table, if that wasn’t true love-

 

James handed me a red solo cup containing a bronze colored liquid that smelled awful. I almost wanted a glass of red wine from Shiro’s collection than this piss that found my hand. Lance was given a bottled water and tugged at my shoulder to sit at the bar that was separating the kitchen and the living room in Lacey’s house. 

 

Lacey was known to always have a new years blow out party since sophomore year. Her parents were rich and always traveled to somewhere warm during the holidays and trusted Lacey with the house and all of their booze to disappear before they came back. I promise that Lacey is really cool and responsible, even if she drinks, she always makes sure no one does anything inside the house to ruin anything. She just wants people to have a good time, and since everyone loves her, they help her with the cleaning and everything the day after. 

 

“We never got to talking about your trip, Lance. How was Cuba? Your Abuelo, he doing okay?” I tried to take a sip of the red solo cup, but instantly regretted ever putting my lips to the rim of the cup and let my tongue touch the liquid, making a sour grimace. 

 

Lance chuckled at my grimace, I could see his hand coming close to my face to caress me or pull me in to kiss him, but a flash of thought flickered acrossed his blue eyes and he pulled his hand away from me. The hurt was so present on his golden face, his lips tugged scarcely to the side. “Cuba was great. The weather was perfect, the people are awesome. My cousins and aunts and uncles were clingy as fuck since I hadn’t seen them in four years ever since…” His blue-green eyes dulled for a nanosecond thinking about his favorite person. “Abuelo is doing fine, my family who lives in Cuba live with him and are taking care of him. Their internet sucks, but I’m able to Skype him from time to time, but it was so good to hug him again. I missed him a lot.” Lance took a long sip of his bottled water, his eyes darting to the side with that sense of loss. 

 

“Good. I’m glad you had a good time, and that your Abuelo is doing well. But…” I leaned in close to his ear. “I’m so fucking happy to have you back with me.” 

 

“So everything Shiro said about you wallowing in sad love songs was true?” He smirked, spinning on the bar stool like a child. 

 

My eyes rolled far back to meet my brain, and I angled my head to the side catch long, platinum white hair spread across a lonely green recliner in the corner. “Lotor’s here.” I tugged at Lance’s collar, to discreetly point at our enemy. 

 

“Loturd’s here? Where?” Lance’s voice went from chipper to provoked the second his name left my mouth, scoping the room to catch him nursing a wine glass with a blood red liquid filled half way.

 

Before break, I was roaming the library to find a book and sort of caught him and Miss Allura...exchanging saliva, amongst other things. I could feel my insides squirming at the image of their desperate groping and low pants. “Does anyone else know about him and Lur?” I whispered close to Lance, but the music had been amped up to shield any obvious conversation around the room. 

 

Lance made an  _ I have no idea face _ with his lips curled down and eyes wide open. He was our schools biggest gossip so if he hadn’t heard anything, then no one knew and we had to keep it that way. For some reason, I felt the need to protect them of their secret relationship, did they love each other? Or was this an exciting fling before Lotor graduated to move away and do whatever he was going to do. All I knew was that I was surprisingly curious and felt drawn to the situation and wanted to know more. More of their love, since it was secret like my and Lance’s relationship. So, apparently we were sort of in the same boat? 

 

I shook my head, feeling my bun undoing itself on the top of my head, and grabbed at my hair to make a new low bun. When my hair was fixed, I caught Lance staring at me with stars in his eyes. “What is it?” I smiled crookedly, feeling ogled. 

 

Lance was making that same crooked smile, his face looking drunk despite his bottled water on the counter next to him. “I really like you, Mullet head.” He dragged me to sit with the others, knowing we wouldn’t be given any alone time when all of our friends were here and only three of them knew about our relationship. 

 

“Hey, Loturd! Stop sitting in that dark corner like you’re the Godfather. Come join us.” James shouted over the loud music. Lotor directed his dark blue eyes at our little circle of friends, but made a _ humphing _ noise and turned to stare at the wall painting taking a sip of his wine. 

 

“Sup with him?” Lance cocked a brow at Acxa. 

 

“Boss has been more bitter than usual when break started. Us in the Kova group can’t figure out why. Whenever we ask him, he snaps at us and goes to find a corner or a dark room to wallow in. We choose to let him be. If he doesn’t get his act together, the school will crumble without his leadership.” Acxa downed her drink in one, large gulp. This chick. 

 

My gaze went to Lotor, thinking if maybe Miss Allura had broken up with him before Christmas break. Maybe he suggested something about him going to college, or said he loved her. All I thought about in that moment, was how lucky I felt to be with Lance and how much I didn’t want our relationship to go up in flames. I couldn’t lose him, and if he needed us to be secret a while longer, I’ll go along with it without a fight. For now. 

 

Later, when the clock chimed 11PM, everyone had spread out in the house. Pidge in her silky green blouse and blue jeans, was dancing with the girls from her class, and smiling with Lacey. Hunk and Shay had occupied themselves in front of the TV playing Mario Kart with James and Ryan. Acxa and Ezor had found Lotor and were talking with him, or trying to at least, his mouth was wired shut from what I could collect. 

 

Lance was nowhere to be found. Had something happened to him? He wasn’t drinking. He was completely sober, he couldn’t have left the party? The house was full of students from our school, all from sophomore year to our year. I ran up the stairs, trying to get past students who were making out on the stairs, or talking in the hallway. I checked the different rooms on the second floor, but no boyfriend. There was a cramped hall with narrow steps leading up when I craned my head, and decided to walk up them. 

 

There was an open room at the top of the stairs, almost like a hidden man-cave. I couldn’t understand how no one else found this room during the party as it was the perfect spot to make out, and or, other things. 

 

At the other side of the room, I spotted double sliding doors that were open letting in the cold, and making the curtains rustle from the wind. “Lance?” I found Lance leaned over the balcony railing, looking out at the painted night sky, and the white moon hidden behind gray clouds. 

 

“Keith. Hey, you found me.” He made a toothy grin when he turned around, catching my face. His ocean was glowing a deep cerulean, and I wanted to take a dip in them the moment they caught me. 

 

“What are you doing here?” I asked him, leaning over the balcony like him, looking sideways at his thinking face. 

 

“I forgot to tell you, I got an A in algebra.” His smile widened, eyes closed when he stared at me, almost like he was hiding something, but I decided not to linger on that thought. 

 

“Holy shit, that’s unbelievable. But, why are you telling me this now?” 

 

“I dunno, making conversation.” The air was cold, but grew denser the closer Lance slid his hand to mine on the railing, grabbing it, then lacing our fingers. 

 

We both stared intently at our laced hands, unspoken words becoming so loud between us. “Have you been thinking about...uhm. We’ve been dating for two months, right?” His voice was faltering, turning into stuttered sounds when he tried to make out the words. 

 

“Yeah, when that clock strikes midnight, it’ll be two months. What’s on your mind, Lance?” 

 

“You, of course.” His smile blinded me, and made me want to grab him and kiss him raw. 

 

Sex. He was thinking about sex, and having sex with me. I couldn’t blame the guy, I was thinking about that too, a little more than I would have liked. My arms went to wrap themselves around Lance’s neck. He was still a couple inches taller than me, but our eyes met with a spark, and his mouth landed hard on to mine. 

 

“We. Don’t. Have. To do. It yet. Mullet.” He said between our kisses, and I stopped him, pushing him back to look at his starlit eyes. “We can still wait. I’ll wait forever if I have to. I know how this makes you feel.”

 

“And how does it make me feel, Lance?” I wasn’t angry, I was curious to see if he knew me as well as I thought he did. 

 

“Scared. You told me once, it was hard for you to feel loved because of...well something that happened to you. And I don’t want to pressure you into anything you don’t want to do. We can wait if it makes you feel uncomfortable. I’ll keep on kissing you.” He leaned in to plant a feather light kiss to my lips, smiling warmly when he pulled back to gaze at me. “I’ll kiss you till the end of time if I have to, without ever going that far.” He kissed my neck, letting me release a low moan, urging him to go on. 

 

His fingers were fumbling for my vest, unbuttoning it till it was off, then his fingers went to work on my shirt buttons. “Is this okay, Keith? I can stop…” 

 

“No, keep going. But-” 

 

“But?”

 

“It’s so fucking cold out here, can we go inside and continue?” I chuckled, and we both went back into the TV room, Lance darted to the door to see if it had a lock, which it did and that click made my heart rate beat as fast as a roller coaster. 

 

There was a large sofa in the corner, shaped like an L. We both made it to the wider side of the sofa. Lance sat down and I landed on his lap, threading my fingers through his soft mane of curly brown hair. He continued with unbuttoning my red shirt. One, two, all the way down until it was off and revealed my bare upper body. I swallowed hard when his lips settled on my peck, pressing softly on my now red hot skin. 

 

He bent his head up to catch my expression. “Is this good?” He asked, a lopsided smile finding that fucking gorgeous face. I could only nod because I was always speechless when he looked like that. He kept on kissing my chest, sucking lightly on it till it left a faint mark of a bruise, and a couple more made themselves visible. 

 

“You make me go crazy, Keith. I can’t help it when I’m around you. Feeling so lucky to have you in my life. To have you...be mine.” Lance nuzzled his face in my chest, I could feel his smile. “I really want you, Keith. And it doesn’t help when you look like that all the time.” 

 

“Like what..” I gutted out, wanting him to continue what he was doing, but I got curious for his response staring down at the crown of his head. 

 

He tipped up again, the ocean catching me with a tidal wave. “Like you.” He lifted up to catch my mouth with his, releasing a low moan from his own throat causing a ruckus below my belt. 

 

I pushed him down to lie on the sofa, unbuttoning his blue shirt till he was as bare as me. My hands started exploring his chest, the roughness of his chest hair, the hard ridges of his defined stomach, the V line made by his hip bones. This sight was not doing nice things to me, and I knew I wanted him as much as he wanted me, but it still wasn’t the time. Not here, not like this. I bent down and kissed a hip bone, hearing him suck in a loud breath at that. He liked it, so I went for the other hip bone, kissing that one too. Feeling even more daring, I let my tongue stripe the line of hair underneath his belly button.

 

“Damn it, kitten...don’t..if you keep on doing this I’ll have to find a bathroom.” He knew we weren’t going that far tonight, but this was a nice start. An icebreaker to help us get further when we both felt ready, and had protection on us. I knew I had nothing on me. 

 

“It’s okay. I’ll stop.” I landed on top of his chest, feeling safe. Feeling at home with my boyfriend. My fingers played with his bare chest, nails dragging on his skin. I could feel him curling his toes at my touch, and it put a goofy smile on my face. “I really like you, McClain.” I said to the room, still lying sideways on his chest. 

 

“I really like you too, Mullet head.” He was petting my hair, the bun had fallen out ages ago when we started making out, making my hair splay out all over my shoulders and onto his chest. “Don’t ever cut your hair. I love it too much.” He then said, making me snort at his stupid comment, but I’ll do as told. 

 

The clock chimed midnight, and we were both back on the balcony, fully clothed, staring at the moon, and the fireworks on display in the open black sky being painted by exploding flowers. Beautiful. Just like Lance, I thought when I stared at him looking at the fireworks. “Enjoying the view?” Lance smiled at the sky, knowing perfectly well I was looking at his perfect profile. 

 

“You know I am.” I pull him to me. “Happy New Year, Lance McClain. Let’s have a great year together.” I kiss him. “What’s your new year resolution?” I needed to ask because it’s mandatory. 

 

Lance made a thinking face, cocking a brow. “Getting accepted into college, making sure I get to bunk with you aaaand...telling my parents about us.” He leaned in for a new kiss, and we both heard a coughing underneath the balcony. 

 

“Hey dickheads! Tone down the love making, the others are coming out soon, they’ll see you.” Pidge was waving her hands from the first floor outside wearing a knowing smirk, but thank God she warned us. 

 

“We’re coming down! We’ll see you in a minute.” I shouted back to her, and grabbed Lance’s hand to pull him down to the others. 

  
  



	53. Revelation

“The hell is this, Mullet?” Lance made eyes at the form I smacked in front of him on his desk. 

 

It was fourth period English, and new year’s eve was almost a month ago. The annual school ski trip for juniors and seniors is this weekend. Lately, whenever I’ve been roaming the halls at school or working on my homework in the library, all I could pay attention to were the posters about the talent show. And constantly thinking to myself, _Lance needs to share his music to the world_. So what better way than facing your fears, than signing up for the school talent show? 

 

I grabbed my chair to sit across from him taking in how good he always looked. It was still cold outside, but the snow had melted away, and Lance was sporting a red cap with a lion stitched on to it. His red polo and black skinny jeans made him look like a perfect afternoon snack. “What’s with all the red lately, Lance?” I asked before he could reach the form and inspect it. 

 

His lips curled, the catch of a current reeling me in. “You told me once how much you wanted to eat me up, and I was wearing your red hoodie at the time, and I saw you eyeing it on me, undressing me with your eyes.” His voice had gone down to a whisper so that Ms. Honerva didn’t catch our conversation and smack her large ruler on one of our desks. 

 

Lance grabbed the form now, reading the headline in bold black letters printed on red craft paper: 

_ GARRISON PREP TALENT SHOW - SHOW US WHAT YOU GOT!  _

 

“Keith, what the fuck...you want me to sign up or something...you know how much I suffer from stage fright.” He leaned in close. “You wanna kill your boyfriend with public humiliation? That’s low, Mullet.” His hand snaked under his desk, resting his palm on my thigh, the heat from his palm shooting up to a very sensitive area. 

 

Ever since new years eve, when we discussed the matter of sex, we had been more and more handsy with each other, trying to find any free spot to make out and rip off each other’s shirts. Our pants though, they always stayed on, none of us daring to go that far yet. But, knowing we could at least enjoy the feel of our bare chests against each other, and the feel of our hands doing their magic, I’m not going to complain. Besides, kissing Lance McClain goes a far way, and I won’t ever have to have sex with him as long as I got to kiss those peachy, plump lips. 

 

A shudder ran through my body at the thought of Lance’s mouth, doing things to my body, to areas of my body he hasn’t touched yet. “Keith? Your face has gone like ten shades redder...what are you thinking about.” His voice turned smooth, like honey dripping and that didn’t help with the matter of thinking about your boyfriend giving you a blowjob in your head. 

 

“You fucking horn dog...it’s so obvious.” He pulled on my blue collar, since I was borrowing a dark blue hoodie of his, and cupped a hand over my ear to hide his voice from the other chattering students and Ms. Honerva, “You said you wanted to wait.” 

 

“Yeah. But that doesn’t stop me from thinking about you that way...specially when you wear that for fuck’s sake..” I groaned and rested my head in my folding arms on his desk. My pants had gotten so tight from the intrusive, very pleasant image of Lance, and I needed something to resemble a cold shower to help loosen them before the bell rang. 

 

Lance read my mind, and tried to talk about the latest English assignment. We were reading The Hunger Games, and Lance wanted to see the movie tonight while we packed for the ski trip. It wasn’t a bad idea, but knowing we’d be in my room, close to a bed, and Shiro and Adam would be at Aunt Rosa’s tonight with Ruby to play with her cousin- yeah no, bad idea. 

 

I wanted our first time together to be perfect. Not in my room, scared to death that my dad’s would come home early and barge in with Ruby in their arms and have her childhood ruined by looking at her big brother having sex with her hero. Nope, let’s find a rocket ship and blast off to the sun instead. 

 

“Class! Make sure to finish the book over the weekend so that we can discuss it before your paper.” Ms. Honerva said with a distasteful tone. Something seemed like to have happened to her after new years, and we couldn’t figure out what. To give a better perspective. Lance, who was the golden child in her class, received a D on his last English paper, something that didn’t make sense because he definitely deserved an A. I’m not saying that because he’s my boyfriend, but - yeah that too - but, he’s so good at writing, and that D was like a motherfucker to his gut. 

 

Carol shot a dark hand up. “Uhm...but we have the ski trip this weekend.” She said in a tone which Ms. Honerva should have read that meant none of us would have the time to finish the book. 

 

“Then you’ll have plenty of time to read on the bus ride over. What is it, a 2 hour drive. Perfect amount of time.” Ms. Honerva smiled wickedly, scaring the whole class when the bell rang, and a thunder clapped outside the window at the same time. “Now get!” 

 

After school, we drove home to my place since Pidge had chess club, and Hunk had study group. We found Adam in the living room watching Dora the Explorer with Ruby. “Hey, you two. Want me to make some food or-” He looked chipper, but also tired. Even though he wore glasses, it was easy to spot the dark circles under his eyes. Shiro had been working late almost every day the past month, and Adam had been lying awake in his bed every night worrying he’d be okay in case he was on the field. 

 

“Hey, Adam. You can sit tight. Lance and I can whip up something. You know when Shiro’s coming home tonight?” I asked him, and hugged Ruby when she ran to me and Lance. Lance grabbed her and picked her up in his arms, kissing her cheek like a crazy daddy in love with his child, it warmed my heart ten fold. 

 

Adam ran a tan hand through his curling dark locks. “Seriously, let me make some food. I need something else to focus my mind on besides  _ Swiper no swiping _ …” He muttered, tightening his brown belt. He’s been eating less too. 

 

“But Dora’s your favorite show in whole wide world, Pápa!” Ruby giggled loudly. 

 

“You know what. How about Lance watches Dora with you, and Pápa can make some food for all of us. Sound good, baby?” He smoothed his daughter’s hair, and she wiped her tired eyes and looked up at Lance. “Okay!” 

 

“Okay! Let’s show Swiper who’s boss, little miss!” Lance pretended to be Superman and swooped into the living room with a giggling Ruby. 

 

In the kitchen, Adam found the ingredients to make a pizza. While he went to work on making the dough he gave me a look. “What?” 

 

“Nothing. Just wondering what you are planning to do tonight…” He started kneading the finished made dough. 

 

“We were planning on watching The Hunger Games while packing for the ski trip. Lance’s going to help choose my  _ ski trip outfits _ .” I made air quotes at the last part, earning a low chuckle from my dad. 

 

“Classic Lance.” He put the dough back in the bowl to let it set and rise. “So...this ski trip. I know you think you’re going to bunk with Lance...but I talked with Allura.” He caught my incredulous look. 

 

“You seriously don’t trust us? We’re going on a school trip, with our class - with our teachers, Adam!” I wheezed out through my breath. “We’re not going to jump each other the second we get our rooms...we’re not savages. We’re not that…” I wasn’t going to finish that sentence. Firstly, because it was my dad, hello. And secondly, well, we were starting to get horny. Yes, I can feel my cheeks blazing by just thinking the word. But, yeah. I was getting really horny, and I wanted my best friend, bad. 

 

“Well, we wrote down that we wanted to have a room together, and you’re not in charge of rooming, so if we do end up in a room you can’t do anything about it. Can you?” It became obvious now that there was a special reason why Lance and I wanted to room together over the school ski trip. Not a hundred percent because it would be a perfect occasion to lose our virginity, even though we would be under the same roof as all of the seniors and juniors, and let’s not forget the faculty members of the senior class. But, it would finally give us the opportunity to be a couple, to cosy up into each other without thinking about someone barging into my room, asking to help do the dishes, and be allowed to sleep in the same bed together, something during our almost three months as a couple, has only happened once, and I wounded up having a nightmare that same night. 

 

“Actually I can, Keith. I need to approve the rooming lists before they go out online for you guys to find. I need to make sure that there aren’t any inappropriate roomings, and I was able to find one.” His glasses shined from the kitchen light. He slid his lips to the side when he took in my angry face. “I’m not sorry, Keith. You’re still only 18, and you and Lance are young, and in love, and in heat almost…” He chuckled at that, but I didn’t find it funny. “I’ll feel better knowing you guys aren’t doing any funny business on your school trip. I’m aware that you guys are kids, and you can be stupid enough to try and swap rooms and everything, but rest assured...I’ll have Allura on watch.” Well that did it. Lance and I will never, ever share a bed together again unless we both get accepted into my dream college.

 

“So, who am I rooming with on this trip, then! If it’s not Lance, then Hunk?” I saw Adam raise his brows. “Lance is with Hunk, huh..” He smiled at me, making the pizza sauce, and lifting the wooden spoon to my mouth, it was delicious, I told him through a moan when the sauce touched my tongue. 

 

“That’s for me to know, and you to find out. If I tell you, you’ll kill me. And Takashi doesn’t want to come home to a homicide does he..” He sprinkled cheese on the pizza, and slices of mozzarella cheese on top of the sprinkles cheese, then set it in the oven for the next twelve minutes.

 

I stomped my foot to show my feelings on this whole rooming situation, and screamed for Lance follow me up to my room. 

 

“Sup, babe? What’s with the long face?” Lance was finding the movie on Netflix on my laptop, placing it on a chair in front of my bed. We snuggled up into each other under the covers and watched the title play on the laptop. Lance snuck in a wet kiss on my cheek, and my red hot anger for my dad started to slowly dissolve. 

 

Like I said earlier, we’re never able to catch a break under the Shirogane-West-Kogane household when a little monster bursted through the door with a plate full of pizza for Lance and I. “What are two going to watch?” She asked politely. Damn she was cute.

 

“Lance and I are going to watch a movie for grown-ups. You’re too small to watch this, Rubes. It’ll give you nightmares, and I don’t think Pápa will be happy if you have nightmares.” I tried to explain to her, even though it was obvious to see how much she wanted to be with us. 

 

“But, I can pretend to be a big girl, and protect you and Lance from all the scary parts.” Kosmo barked when he came into my room, seriously, Adam’ll be here soon, just you wait. 

 

Speak of the devil. “Ruby, come on. Leave them alone, they obviously don’t want to be with us right now.” Adam went down to his hunches. “I bet they’re going to kiss.” He said in a teasing manner, and Ruby slapped his face and made a sound like he was trying to feed her broccoli. “Come on….and you guys know the drill.” He pointed strictly to my covers. 

 

I made a loud growl of unappreciation, and pulled the covers off with a brute force and threw it on the floor in front of Adam’s feet. “Happy!?” I shouted at him, and he pointed two fingers to the door, then the same two at his eyes, then directed each finger at me and Lance. What’s the use of being a couple, if we couldn’t even be a couple in my own house. “Now get out!” I threw a pillow at him, and he bundled my blanket in his arms and nodded for Ruby to go downstairs with him. 

 

“Good thing he can’t steal our lips, babe.” Lance leaned in, dragging my chin to his face and kissed me, a nice, tender, warm kiss. 

 

I smiled, keeping my eyes closed. “Fuck, that’s nice.” I kissed him again. “So, I have bad news…” 

 

“I know we’re not rooming together this weekend, fucking blows.” 

 

“Wait, how do you know that!? I just learned that from Adam, who has last call I guess, that we can’t room together…” 

 

“Keith, they put the rooming list out on the net before you stormed out of the kitchen. Here…” He pulled out his phone and found the list. “You’re not going to like who you’re bunking with, babe.” I grabbed his phone and found my name and the name of who I was going to bunk with this weekend. 

 

“ADAM!!!”  


	54. Roommate

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ellooo, sorry for the long wait. I might have to make the next chapter come in a week's time too. So again, sorry. A lot has been going on and even though it's summer vacation. Also, I miiiight have to go on a hiatus for this story when all of my pre-written chapters are posted. I'm having a difficult time continuing the story, and I just really want to be in the right headspace when I write and yeah, have the end of the story be as good as it has been. Hope you're with me on that.
> 
> For the meantime, enjoy. :)

Everyone from senior and junior year stood outside the school waiting for the buses to arrive. It was raining. Again, no surprise. But, the forecast said that the place where we were going on our ski trip would have snow on snow on snow. And the lodge we were staying at was going to be amazing, as we were promised at least. 

 

Lance had traded his long wooly coat with a bright blue ski jacket and headband. I wanted to make eyes at how good he looked, but a new bubble of rage boiled in my gut thinking about Adam’s stupid decision and final call making when it came to the rooming on this trip. I was really looking forward to bunking with my boyfriend, and finally getting some alone, alone time with him, and knowing that only two other people besides my dads knew about our relationship, we could have gotten easily away with it, too.

 

“Lighten up, Mullethead. We can still have a good time, even though it won’t be what you’re thinking…” He jabbed his elbow in my gut, but my red ski jacket had so much padding that I couldn’t feel even the slightest of a tickle from his elbow. 

 

We saw Hunk get out of his mom’s car, and kissing her on the cheek before carrying his bag containing his skis and probably loaded with candy too dare I say. He was waving at us when he started walking, almost sprinting towards us. “Hey, guys! I’m so excited, my mom bought me a snowboard!” He beamed, showing us his tall, skinny black bag. 

 

I eyed the bag. “We can’t see it, Hunk!” 

 

“No duh, it’s inside the bag.”

 

“Then why don’t you show us…” Lance made a bored look, I can bet he was bummed out as well on us not bunking together. 

 

“If I open the bag, then all my snacks will pour out. Just wait till we hit the slopes, it’s killer!” 

 

Behind us we found Ryan, James, Lacey and Carol join our group. Ryan and James had bought matching black ski jackets and headbands and Lacey was looking nice in dark purple. Carol was the odd one out with a bright yellow jacket that lit up the whole parking lot, but she suited it. 

 

“Incoming!” James warned when an expensive almost limousine parked in front of the students of GP. 

 

With his long, long white hair tied up in a high ponytail and his ears wrapped by a violet colored headband and a matching ski jacket and black ski pants, my roommate turned around to give the whole lot a disinterested look. 

 

Ryan slapped my shoulder a couple times. “Man, am I glad I’m not you.” 

 

“I’d be glad if I were him…” Lance mumbled and received a wink from our dark, handsome star athlete. 

 

Acxa and Ezor dressed in their own colorful ski attires ran to meet up with their leader. Ezor shot a rainbow eye at us, and winked at Lance. She caught my glaring stare and stuck her tongue out at me. “Why is she like that, Lance?” I asked him, but he was busy making a playlist on his phone to pay attention to his boyfriend. 

 

He pulled out an Airpod. “Huh? Hey Chica!” Lance called out to Ezor, then made a grimace when he met my jealous face. “Hey...babe. You know I’d kiss that look away, but with everyone here..” I sighed out an exasperated breath at him and he received that fucking smile, because Lance makes me smile, all the time. 

 

“Alright, everyone! Now listen up. We’ll split the classes. Juniors on this bus, and seniors on this one. I’ll sit with the seniors and Coran will be with the juniors. Chop-chop. We’re going to have a great time!” Allura smiled brightly, wearing a bright pink ski jacket, and a matching pink headband. Yes, apparently headbands were the thing to have when going on a ski trip. 

 

The bus ride to the lodge took two hours. I spotted some of the students making their way through _ The Hunger Games _ , either wearing looks of pure fright from the story, or of frustration to getting through the book without falling asleep. Lance and I were listening to his playlist, and sometimes a couple of his songs would play. 

 

“Did you sign up for the talent show, Lance?” I turned to look at his sleepy face. He got easily tired if he lied for too long in one spot, specially on road trips. 

 

He made a grim look, swiping his finger through Instagram. “What do you think?” His voice was laced with irritation when he splashed an entire ocean on my face. 

 

“I want to think yes. But I know you’re going to say no.” 

 

“I’ll do it if you’re with me.” He surprised me. 

 

“You want me.  _ Me _ , Lance. To sing with you?” 

 

He nodded his head at me, the corners of his peachy lips lifting. “That I do. I know some people who can play a couple instruments, and we’ll have a whole band. I’ll feel better knowing you’re humiliating yourself together with me. Or else, I won’t do it, not now, not ever.” 

 

“But what if you get accepted into my dream college. Doesn’t the program have some kind of live performance thingy?” I tried to make him understand that if he wanted to pursue in music, it’d be good for him to know that he would have to perform live at some point. 

 

“Nope. I read it online. The course I want to take is the creation of music and songs - it doesn’t state that I have to sing my own music. Only create it.” He did that side dip with your head when you’ve just proved something and no one can go against you - like someone saying  _ mmmhhh-hmmm _ . 

 

And that conversation was over. 

 

We arrived at the lodge pretty late. It was already 8PM, and we all needed to have something to eat and get our stuff into our rooms. “Meet out here in an hour?” I heard Lance ask me and the gang. We all nodded and went our separate ways to find our rooms when Miss Allura and Coran handed us our room keys. 

 

Lance and Hunk were on the third floor of the lodge. I made my way to the second floor, trying to find room 209. Outside the room door I spotted a president. “Lotor.” I said, setting my bags down on the hallway floor eyeing him. 

 

He eyed me back with dark blue eyes of hate. “Noone.” He spat the name in my face, and got the room open with the key jammed in. “After you.” He presented the room with his manicured hand. 

 

“Yes. After me.” I tried to sound like Lance, but it was a bust. As I made my way into the room, I spotted two twin sized beds, a mirror and tv on the wall, a bathroom and a desk. Your standard hotel room. Except, I had to share it with Loturd. 

 

Lotor flung his bags on the bed he wanted to sleep on, and made his way into the bathroom, to freshen up was my guess. My phone vibrated:

 

**Lancey Lance <33 : Has he killed you yet? T.T**

 

**Keefy ^^, : Nope - but he did give me a look that wanted to kill me. The hell should I do, talk with the guy? I dun think he knows what the word nice even means…;P**

 

**Lancey Lance <33 : Try asking him some things about home, or, OR - u can try and fish for some juicy deets on him and you-know-whooooo!!! O.O **

 

**Keefy ^^, : Fck, I forgot about that. See what I can do..see u guys soon <3**

 

**Lancey Lance <33 : See ya, babe <33333**

 

**Hunklicious: I want in on some lovin’ too <3**

 

**Keefy ^^, : We wuv you lots and lots Hunk ;***

 

**Hunklicious : All Im askin for ^^**

 

**Birb -_-* : Hope an avalanche gets ya! Have fun :P**

 

Lotor came back out of the room. I was sitting on my bed staring at my bag. “You can change in the bathroom if you want to.” I heard him say with a monotone voice, catching him finding a white shirt and jeans - jeans!, from his bag. 

 

“Nah, I’m fine.” I said, staring at my - or Lance’s, black Adidas sweater, the nice comfy one, and my black jeans looked okay. Didn’t need any changing, nope. Don’t need to get undressed in front of this guy - thank god. 

 

This thing with Allura was kind of big news, but I had no idea how I was going to sneak it into any casual conversation. “I know we don’t know each other that well...uh - Lotor.” I almost said Loturd, that would be a bad start. 

 

“Okay…” He was swiping on his phone, ignoring me. 

 

“But, maybe we should put any differences we have aside and get to know each other?” 

 

“Are you hitting on me, Kogane!” He suddenly barked at me, his face a look of anger. 

 

“Yo, I’m just trying to be nice. Just because I’m gay doesn’t instantly mean I’m hitting on every single guy on the universe. Also, I’m already seeing someone.” My cheeks warmed. It felt good to say that out loud. I know I didn’t directly say who I was seeing, but knowing I could tell someone I was seeing someone, it just felt so right. 

 

“Really, do I know him?” He finally sounded interested. “Is it that asshole McClain you’re always hanging out with?” 

 

“Let’s talk about something else! Shall we? How’s home?” I made a soft smile, trying to let him understand that I genuinely wanted to get to know him and not try to fish for details on him making out with our young history teacher. 

 

Lotor made a sour face when I mentioned the word home. “My parents are of no interest to you..” He said low, the look growing deeper and deeper. Could something have happened at home? Could this have been why he was a gloomy mess on new years? 

 

“Lotor..did something happen to you at home...If your parents are doing anything bad to you, then I can talk to Adam -”

 

“No need to worry, Kogane. They’re not physically abusing me or anything. I have just learned some unfortunate, and odd news about my...fuck. I’m not going on if you’re not going to care about this.” Lotor Von Gal, he was acting just like Lance - like a big baby. Luckily for him, I was used to big babies. 

 

I shook my head, moving closer on the bed so that he could see how serious I was. The clock on the nightstand between our beds glowed 8:37PM, we still had some time to chat. If he had something troubling bubbling up inside of him, then I wanted him to let it all out. I knew what it was like to hold in a secret, and letting it out always felt ten times better. If it were physically possible, that is.

 

“Lotor… please go on. I care. I want to know, and maybe I can help you if you need that. Or at least need a friend.” I made a genuine smile at him, and he almost made a smile back, the slight nudge of a corner on his lips barely twitching upwards. 

 

“Friend.” He let out a sharp nasaled breath. “My parents...they divorced not that long ago. I have been living with my aunt..Honerva for the past three months, and I just recently learned that…” He swallowed, his light brows knitting in frustration. “I just learned that she’s my birth mother…the woman who I thought was my real mother for the past eighteen years, she’s actually my aunt. How messed up is that?” He let out a pained laugh, staring at me with disbelief, his dark blue eyes glazed.

 

Looks like Lotor had a lot more weight on him than we all thought. And he never had a chance to talk about this, not even with Acxa? I’m going to have to punch some sense into her, unless Lotor had a reason why he kept all this to himself. 

 

“I know some shit that’s even more messed up..” Her face flashed before my eyes, and I winced thinking about her, touching my scar without realizing it. 

 

“Does it have to do with your scar?” Lotor looked sad, cocking a light brow at me while I still held two fingertips to my scar. Reliving the phantom pain of the jagged slice on my cheek.

 

“Guess we’re both messed up..huh.” Lotor concluded at last. 

 

“But, bet it felt good to let it out?” I asked, planting a gloved hand on his shoulder, shaking him side to side, catching a fucking smile on his face. He nodded.

 

“Good man. This shit you’re going through...it’ll heal within time. If you want to get to know your mother and why she didn't keep you, then go for it. You will go through a shit load of pain, but it’ll be done, and you can move on, and figure out from there what to do.” 

 

“And what about you...did you ever move on from that?” He pointed to my scar, and now the feel of jagged piece of glass was chilling deep down into my bones. 

 

“I’ll never be able to move on, Lotor….but I know you can, and if you need a friend...I’ll be your man.” 

 

“You sure you’re not hitting on me?” 

 

“C’mon man! I’m trying here, literally trying with all my fucking might to be nice to you.” 

 

That brought a real, wide smile on his face. “Look at that, our cold, stiff president does know how to feel.” 

 

Lotor made a satisfied sigh, looking at the ceiling like he was dreaming about something nice, my bet was a woman with a blinding smile. I thought I’d take the bullet. “I saw you making out with Miss Allura.” 

 

Lotor’s face flushed - flushed!, a bright red color. “Whhaa….whaaat...The hell you talking about!?” 

 

I laughed out loud. “It was in the library, you were wearing the secret santa costume and I caught you canoodling with our history teacher. How long has this been going on?” 

 

“Fuck..how did you know it was me? Not important, but you cannot tell a single soul about us, specially your father!! Lura will get fired if they learn she’s been having a relationship with a student.” 

 

“Relationship? It’s been going on that long!?” 

 

“Since the summer...Lura, she - we met once at the grocery store and we came to talking, I made her laugh, fell in love with that laugh -”

 

“And the rest was history. Hey it’s better than my story.” I thought about everything Lance and I had been through the past half year. 

 

I slapped his knee. “As much as I’d love to swap love stories, we gotta go meet the gang.”

 

“You want me to come with you?” His tone surprised me. 

 

I chuckled. “Course. We’re friends aren’t we?” 


	55. Truth/Dare

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still haven't been able to continue this story, but I'm posting the chapters that are already written for you guys. :)

Last night the whole gang wounded up eating what the lodge provided us; a feast. Miss Allura and Coran had been amazing at setting this up for the juniors and seniors of GP. When we all met in the dining area at 9PM, we were all met with a buffet of everything we could have thought of, and not thought of. 

 

Lance dived into the sushi station, grabbing all the California rolls his plate could hold. Hunk, well, Hunk grabbed everything he could on three plates, licked them clean and dived back in for seconds - which in other words would be, fourths, fifths and sixths. And I ended up grabbing what they had of mac and cheese or carbonara pasta. Fucking delicious the whole meal, and it didn’t take long for us to feel extremely full and already wanted to hit the hay. 

 

Before that thought, our table was surprised that I brought over a loosened up, calm, and laid back president. Lotor was still wearing a smile when I forced him to sit with us, and have a chat. He had found the salmon sashimi and bonded - bonded! with Lance on how much they both loves sushi. Whenever Lotor had an interesting fact about how they made sushi in Japan, Lance would crane his face to me and smile warmly at how much I managed to turn our cold-hearted, appalling, dreadful nemesis into a friendly boy who was hopelessly in love like Lance and I. 

 

Then before we all said our goodnights, Lance pulled me to the a secluded spot in the lodge, one where not a single student or faculty member was, and he kissed me deeply, telling me how much he wished him and I were bunking tonight so that he could create constellations of kisses all over my body, and I felt weak in the knees at his crappy cheesy self, but melted in him all in the same. We kissed each other good night, and I knew I wanted our first time to finally happen soon. Soon, soon. Like if we did bunk together last night, I’m infinitely positive we would have gone all the way. But, I was sleeping with Lotor…

 

Before we went to bed though, Lotor had some interesting words to share with me. None, that had to do with him, his home or his relationship with Miss Allura. But rather, it had to do with my boyfriend. And I didn’t like what he told me. 

 

All night I tossed and turned, thinking about how Lance had lied to me, how he could have gone to such a length, and not get caught. It wasn’t enough for me to break up with him or anything, but it stung to know he would do something like this, knowing how much I meant to him and could have helped him. What Lotor told me did make sense though, it all added up now and I finally understood how he could have had the nerve to pull it off. 

 

The alarm from my phone blared when the clock turned 0800 AM. “Turn that fucking thing off, Kogane. We’re not meeting for breakfast until 8:30…” Lotor growled from under his covers, wearing a blue eyes that wanted to turn into lasers and shoot me down. 

 

“Thought you were a morning person, pres.” I tried to force a chuckle out, but his information from last night was still holed up in my brain. 

 

I found a pair of blue jeans, and a thick red hoodie to put on, and went into the bathroom to take a shower and brush my teeth. In the shower, I let scorching hot water run down my naked body. Even though the information was bad news, somewhere inside me - I want to say my heart, I knew it couldn’t be true. Because Lance loved me, and he would never do such a thing, not behind my back, not when I knew I could have helped him even more so. This whole thing was stupid, and I hated that Lotor saw him, and told me. 

 

My hands were planted on the wall above my head, and I hung my head low, still thinking about Lance, but now I was thinking about the last time we almost got naked together. The furthest we’ve gone is bare chests, but I have seen him naked on multiple occasions in the boys locker room before and after P.E. and now all I could think about lately was having sex with him. I had to do my business, or else I would explode. I lowered my right hand.  

 

I thought about his prominent collarbones, how I kissed them and had felt the shudder of his body beneath mine. The way his hips would roll when I streaked a wet tongue down his defined stomach. How his hip-bones stuck up and made that low dip of a V, making him look so sexy when I would push up and look down at him, his wicked smile colliding into me with a swarm of butterflies to my stomach. How whenever he kissed my chest, he’d let his lips linger on my hot skin and suck and suck until a dark mark remained, feel the strength of his fingers gripping my back when I kissed between the dip of his neck and shoulder...  

 

The running hot water kept on raining down my back while I thought these things about my boyfriend, trying for a release, not thinking that Lotor was still in his bed on the other side of the wall. I needed this. Every fucking morning I needed this because we still hadn’t done it yet. 

 

My hand slapped my mouth when I groaned out a release, and turned off the water, cleaning myself up and getting dressed. In the mirror, I caught my reflection. The look of satisfaction found my eyes, one where I wish it was caused by Lance, although it was sort of, indirectly caused by the memory of him, the ghostly feel of him. How the hell am I going to restrain from coming too fast when we finally do it? 

 

I threw the towel on the toilet seat and brushed my teeth, screeching when I heard two hard knocks on the door. “Keith, hurry up! It’s 8:31...you can masturbate later.” Lotor’s voice sounded from behind the door, and when I caught my face in the mirror again I was red as a fire hydrant. 

 

“I...I wasn’t masturbating, asshole!” I shouted with my toothbrush in my mouth. 

 

I heard him laughing on the other side. “Only a boy who masturbates would say that..now get moving, your loverboy awaits. Too bad you’re already empty.” 

 

I opened the door and threw my toothbrush at him. 

 

After breakfast, we finally hit the slopes. Hunk showed us the new snowboard his mother had bought him, and yes, there was printed tacos and hot dogs on it. Typical Hunk. Let’s also say that he wasn’t exactly X-games material while riding down the snowy hills, always falling and getting back up reassuring himself that he’ll get used to balancing on the board and become amazing at it. We’ll see. 

 

Lance had brought snow blades, and looked like a ballerina dancer gliding fast down the hills. He was made for this, like he was made for everything else. Except for, well, if what Lotor told me was true then he wasn't good at that after all. I made a grim look, trying not to let the information seep too far into my brain, and instead enjoy our fun times on this trip. 

 

I took hold of my staffs and positioned my skis on the snow, then whoosed down the slopes as fast as I could. Adam and Shiro loved skiing so we would go skiing every winter, so I wasn’t all that bad on the skis. At least, compared to Hunk, I was a fucking master on the skis. 

 

Lance found me and squirted snow in my face with his blades when he tried to slow down, sliding to the side. He pulled off his ski goggles and flashes a bright smile at me. His forehead had already begun to redden from the hot sun, and his face was lined by the tight ski goggles, but he still looked like a snack, and I was getting hungry. 

 

“Hey, babe! You got some moves!” Lance praised me, and leaned into me, but we were met by three new skiers riding down the hill before he could land a soft peck on my lips. Seriously, I was getting withdrawals. 

 

Ryan, James and Acxa all met us at the bottom of the hill. We nodded our hellos and took a look at the other students who were on their way down in a speeding motion. It was easy to spot Hunk on his snowboard, but something didn’t seem right. When he neared the end of the hill, we heard him screaming that he couldn’t stop the board. And all at the same time when he reached the bottom; he hit a tree. 

 

“Hunk!!” We all screamed and ran after his crashed body. 

 

Hunk wounded up being sent to the closest hospital, and we all learned he had broken his arm while we sat around a table in the living room quarters of the ski lodge. Miss Allura was wearing a calm face to let us know that he was going to be okay, but his mother was going to pick him up and drive him home. He was too worked up from the crash that he didn’t want to bum everyone out, and his arm hurt a lot too, she said after she had been on the phone with his mom. 

 

I had noticed that Lotor was avoiding Miss Allura’s gaze. If it were because I knew or to keep their relationship subtle and not too obvious, was on me, but he could look at her from time to time, it was obvious that she loved him too and wanted to be looked at. Still, he had his reasons, and it was mostly to protect her. A soft smile cracked on my face at the thought. 

 

“Mullet, what are you so happy about? Hunk almost died!” Lance exclaimed, nursing a hot chocolate, wearing a dark blue hoodie and his black jeans. It didn’t help me that he looked good in both blue and red, he needed to wear different colors. 

 

“Stop being a fucking drama queen, Lance. He’s okay. I was just happy to know he lived.” I tried to save myself, but caught Lotor’s blue eyes and his face lit up into a grin at me and Lance bickering. Yeah, I didn’t officially tell him we were a pair, but it was obvious. Soon, everyone would catch on to us. Lance really needed to come out soon..

 

Acxa pulled a flask out from her bra when Miss Allura left the room to check on other students, and to find Coran before we’d all meet in the large TV room to watch a movie together.  _ Zombieland _ of all movies, and Lance was the one who picked it out. He told me it wasn’t that scary compared to the worser zombie movies we’ve watched in the past. 

 

That was still happening in another hour so we had time to kill on the sofas in front of the fireplace that had a roaring fire burning inside it, and I didn’t feel the slightest of fear in my bones like I usually did when I caught the sight of fire. 

 

Acxa made a satisfied noise after sipping the flask and passing it to Ryan. “I know! Let’s play truth or dare to kill time.” She made a devilish grin at all of us around the table. 

 

Lotor, James, Ryan, Lacey, Ezor, Carol and lastly Lance and I nodded nonchalantly at the suggestion. Except, inside of my brain I was thinking,  _ fuck, fuck, fuck. _ Acxa rubbed her hands like an evil villain from a movie and trailed the flask as it made its round. I felt the burn of the whisky make its way down my throat as I waited for someone to start the fucking game. 

 

“I’ll go first.” Lotor spoke up, staring at me with his dark blue eyes, pinning me in the sofa I was sharing with Lance.  _ Don’t... _ I scrunched my face at him, but his eyes only glowed brighter from the fire crackling in the fireplace. 

 

“Keith!” He smiled my name evilly at me. “Truth..or dare.” His voice sounded villainous, crooked. 

 

“Truth.” I glared at him, not daring to say dare knowing what he might have planned in that robotic brain of his. 

 

“Okay..so. Do you _ like _ anyone from this group?” 

 

Really? He went there? He was persistent on knowing who I was seeing even if he did think it was Lance, not that he was wrong but I wasn’t going to blurt that out now. 

 

Everyone around the table perched up from their spots to get a good look at me and hear my answer. Out of everyone in this circle, Lance and Ryan were the only people who knew I was dating Lance. “Yes.” I said happily, and diverted my gaze from everyone so that it wasn’t obvious who I liked. 

 

Unfortunately, I was dating a dimwit when he made a smug face and winked at the whole circle. I mean, come on stupid, you were the one who didn’t want anyone at school to know. “Lance!” I shouted his name angrily, and he locked eyes with mine. “Truth or Dare?” 

 

“Dare, Mullet.” Lance challenged me with his proud expression, and I wanted to drag his stupid face to a wall and push him hard against it and show him who’s boss out of the two of us, but my imagination was taking over my mind and I needed to say something. 

 

“Tell us an embarrassing memory.” I dared him, but at the same time I wanted him to know that even though you were embarrassed no one will judge him and still love him, just like if he were to play his music live in front of an audience. 

 

He made a thinking face. “Oooh...this one is bad. I made a move on my first grade teacher once, and she wounded up laughing straight up in my face in front of the other students in my class...it was so humiliating, I even used my best line.” 

 

“What was the line?” Lotor asked. 

 

“Kiss me if I’m wrong, but dinosaurs still exist, right?” Lance made a gesture with his finger and thumb under his chin when he said it, and we all groaned at him. 

 

“Now that’s an embarrassing story, dude.” James cackled. 

 

“Fuck, you guys are mean...Ryan you can take over, I need to recharge.” Lance took a long gulp of his hot chocolate. 

 

“Cool! Lotor...truth or dare.” Ryan waggled his brows at our president. 

 

Lotor humphed. “Dare.” He took a sip of the flask when Acxa held it out to him. 

 

Ryan rubbed his hands while looking at me, then back to Lotor. What now? “Lotor, I dare you to hug Keith.” 

 

“A hug, really? You know I hate physical contact Kinkade..” I joked, but Lotor was making a weird face at me and slammed the flask back against Acxa’s chest and shot forward to hug me. 

 

Lance’s face was priceless. I craned my neck and caught him mouthing the words  _ back off _ ,  _ Loturd. _ But the whole gang wounded up laughing when Lotor and I broke our hug, and to be honest, it was nice. 

 

“So, am I gay now?” Lotor broke into a kind smile at our little inside joke. 

 

“You know, if you wanna?” I teased back, but Lance slapped the back of my head. 

 

“It’s not contagious, Boss.” Acxa said when Lance slapped my head. 

 

Ezor made a cooing sound. “Someone’s jealous. Don’t worry, Lancey...Boss is only kidding - he’s as straight as you get’em” She winked a colorful eye at my boyfriend, who was cooling down now and bursted into a laugh. 

 

“Boss!” Lance shouted… “They call you Boss???” 

 

Lotor angled his head up towards the ceiling. “Okay! My turn. Keith! Truth or Dare.” James’ spiky brown hair flapped with him when his finger pointed at me. 

 

“Truth…” I muttered. 

 

“Did you want to win the election?” Everyone went  _ oooo _ around the table at the juicy question.

 

I considered my answer to the question. It would have been nice to win, even though my anxiety was often in the way, but knowing I had Lance on my side I knew being president wouldn’t have been a bad thing. “Yes. I did actually. I really wanted to win, but….” I caught Lotor’s expression. He was surprised by my answer since he knew that Lance nominated me and did practically all of the hard work, but it was true, I wanted to win. “Boss here, he’s the perfect president for GP. The school won’t be the same without you next year.” I smiled. 

 

He smiled back. “I want to admit, Kogane. I tried long and hard to get that budget to invite the freshman and sophomore on this trip for you, but...money.” His hands lifted like it wasn’t helped, and I nodded back. “Thanks Boss, appreciate it.” 

 

“Okay! I’m ready. Ezor my chica. Truth or daaare?” Lance sang the word. 

 

“Dare!” 

 

“Kiss Acxa on the lips.” Another round of _ oooos _ made it around the table, and Ezor just rolled her eyes and dragged Acxa to her face as she planted a nice, long, kiss on her. 

 

Acxa looked blissed after the kiss and her eyes wouldn’t stop blinking. “Lance! What do you say?” Ezor waggled her brows at him. 

 

“Dare?” He asked. 

 

“Bingo! Time to meet your maker, now you kiss Keith on the lips!” Her fair face and rainbow hair swished towards me, and I had wide eyes when we locked gazes. 

 

“Ugghh, you want me to kiss Keith!? My best friend!? Alright..” He mocked and really did sound disgusted which kind of broke my heart a little, but I felt him tug on the collar of my red hoodie as he dragged me closer to his face, catching that crooked smile and those waves of blue and green nearing as he kissed me in front of the whole table. 

 

I was lost when his lips touched mine. His tongue had jabbed its way into my mouth, and now I was melting into him, jerking, bouncing, jiggling my tongue with his as our mouths closed and opened for more. When we released and smiled lustfully at each other. The others started clearing their throats awkwardly to catch our attention. 

 

“Anyone else want some sugar?” Lance broke the silence. 

 

“I think Keith ate it all…” James joked, and the whole table broke out into a new roaring laugh. 

 

When our little porn show ended, there, surprisingly, ended up being more kisses passed around the table. Ryan and James had a go, and their expressions were unreadable after they kissed. Lacey and Ryan shared an innocent one, then Acxa and Carol, then James and Ezor. But nobody forced me or Lance to kiss anyone else, and Lotor had called it quits, but remained in the armchair to watch the show. 

 

“How come you guys are having all the fun?” Lance cut in.  

 

“‘Cause it’d count as cheating if you kissed anyone else, Lancey.” Ezor shot out, winking a rainbow eye at the pair of us. 

 

Wait a minute. “They know!?” I directed a fiery look at Lance. 

 

“Relax, Keith. We all know. You guys are so fucking obvious, and cute as fuck, why don’t you guys show some of that sugar at school?” Ezor calmed me, but the roaring blaze was still burning up my insides. 

 

“Seriously…” Lotor confirms with a grunt, then secretly smiles at me again. 

 

“Please, you guys. My parents don’t know about Keith and I...and they’re like super religious and don’t think two men should be together, and if they find out I’m bisexual...I don’t know..I just...I don’t want them to disown me.” Lance finally admitted, and instead of me being the one to say something. Lotor of all people shot up from his chair, dragging his white shirt sleeves up to his elbows. 

 

“That’s fucking it. It’s outrageous is what it is. Love is love! You two should be allowed to be together. I’m going to call my governess and have her - “

 

“Ey Boss!” Lance caught his angry state, dragging his phone down from his ear. “No need. I got this...in due time.” He made a warm look at me. “Everything will be fine. So you guys...just keep it quiet for now, kay?”

 

“But what about prom?” Lacey asked. 

 

“What about prom? That’s still 4 months away?” Lance answered, but before I could express my opinion on the matter, Miss Allura shouted for us to make it into the TV room. 


	56. Cheater

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just gonna leave this here. 
> 
>  
> 
> REMEMBER - COMMUNICATION IS SO IMPORTANT IN A RELATIONSHIP

_Zombieland_ wounded up becoming one of my all time favorite movies. This one I truly liked. It wasn’t scary, it had humor and awesome actors. Lance knew how to pick’em, and boy did he know how to pick’em, I thought when our hands held laced during the whole film, not having a care about the other students in the dark, dark room. 

 

Tomorrow morning after breakfast we were going home, and now that the movie was over it was pretty much lights out. The others had made their ways to their rooms after they said good night, but Lance and I, we just sat there in the dark staring at each other. 

 

“You have the room to yourself…” I stated, and he nodded. 

 

“Yeah..Hunk went home, I totally forgot about that. Today’s been...well.”

 

“Interesting.” I answered for him, and received a new nod. 

 

“I don’t think it’ll be wise to sleep in the same room tonight since..” I was just trying to make something up to avoid our _situation_. Also, there was the matter of what Lotor told me about Lance, and then there was Allura doing nightly check ins, it just wouldn’t work out. 

 

“Right. Then I’ll see you in the morning, Mullet.” He kissed me on the cheek, a sad look finding his face on the way out of the room. 

 

 

I found Lotor fidgeting about in our room when I opened the door. “Sup, man?” 

 

“Keith!? What..what are you doing in here?" Lotor made a squeaky noise from his throat when he caught me. 

 

“I sleep in here?” I knitted my brows at him. “Seriously, what’s up?” 

 

“I thought since Hunk isn’t here you’d..” Lotor moved his eyes to the bathroom, lifting his light brows. 

 

He had someone over. Miss Allura? “Ohhh...sooo?” He nodded rapidly at my eyes growing wider with realization. 

 

“Right, okay, cool. Lemme just grab some things and I’ll be out of your hair.”

 

“Keith...don’t worry about Lura, she won’t do the check-ins. She’s aware of what students do on this trip, and since well...she and I finally have some time alone and since I assumed you’d bunk with your boyfriend..” He made it loud and clear. 

 

I held my things in my arms, and made a crooked, awkward smile since the air in the room smelled like Lotor and our History teacher were definitely going to have sex, and I needed to bolt, like stat. Not that I was green with envy or anything…

 

“Cool, cool, cool….I’m gonna go now.” I opened the door, and made a quick wave at him before closing it again. 

 

“Baby...he’s not going to tell anyone is he?” I heard Miss Allura’s concerned voice through the door, and thought no way was I going to tell on them. Love is love, Lotor had said so, and I’m not going to ruin someone else’s shot at love. 

 

“Keith…” Lance stood guard when he opened the door to his room looking angry and moody at me. There was an ember in the heart of his glittering blue-green eyes, one I didn’t want to spark into an angry flame, but there was something I needed to ask him. 

 

He held the door firmly not making the gap any bigger for me to squeeze through. “Can I come in, Lance?” I asked him, but he didn’t budge, just pushed his bottom lip out looking like a small child angry at their dad. 

 

“Babe?” I then said, and his face softened at the pet name. “Baaabe...I’m lost, can I have directions to your heart?” I made my best sexy smile at him, and it was my sure ticket into his room when he cracked into a goofy lovesick grin and opened the door. 

 

Lance had pushed the two twin beds into one large bed suitable for two people, but my guess was he had planned on sleeping like a starfish alone in the bed. Hope this was a better solution than his starfish dream. 

 

“Soo….” Lance had his arms crossed, sitting on the bed wearing a blue and gold nightgown. Fuck, he looked good in it, but my mind was definitely undressing him as we spoke. 

 

I sat down next to him. We were finally, finally going to sleep in the same bed again, and this might be our only shot at doing something more with our relationship without being scared of getting caught. 

 

My memory jumped back to the night before the trip. Adam had forced me to sit through another one of those talks, except this time both him and Shiro were present to talk about the matters of safe sex and always wearing a condom for protection against sexual transmitted diseases and so forth. Was it awful? Yes. Did they give me a condom? They gave me three! Ugh... parents. Were they thinking I’d need to triple wrap, or that we were going to take turns, then play _rock, paper, scissors_ for the last round. Damn.. 

 

There was nothing else I wanted more than to show my love and affection for my boyfriend by going to the next level, but there was something else important that needed to get out of the way. It was to know if Lance McClain, my boyfriend, the boy that I love, is a cheater. 

 

Lance’s arms were still crossed when I moved one of my hands to rest gently on his cheek and pull his face to look at me. “Hey...I need to tell you something, and you have to answer me truthfully.” 

 

“I already told you I was a virgin, Keith. And yes, I want to...but.”

 

“No, it’s not that. Has nothing to do with that...we’ll deal with that afterwards. Lotor told me something, and I don’t know if I want to believe it or not, but I want or need to run it by with you for confirmation. Promise not to flip out, okay? I won’t be mad or anything, but I might be disappointed, and know that I still...you know.” 

 

“Keith, you’re scaring me. Did I kill someone in my sleep or something?” 

 

I wish I could laugh at that. “Lotor said he saw you buy test answers...is that true? ‘Cause like you got an A on your algebra finals, and before that you had like a C in algebra, so you buying test answers before the finals...it just...it all seems to add up.” 

 

Lance took a deep breath in, uncrossed his arms and gripped his hands into fists while he exhaled slowly. I noticed there were tears welling up in his blue eyes, the green specks all dull, nowhere to be found. “I can’t believe he saw me.” He blinked and large tears dropped out from his eyes. “Yes, Keith. I did buy test answers, there’s no way of getting out of that fact, but…” 

 

“But?” 

 

“I didn’t use them. I promise. I didn’t even look at them. As soon as I grabbed the papers, my whole body just started breaking down with guilt. I knew you helped me so much with that test, and I knew I was ready to ace it because of you...I just...I panicked! I knew I needed a B or higher to even have a shot at getting into the same college as you..so. I bought the answers. I knew a guy from the school who could hack into the systems without being caught and find the test they were going to use and I bought the answer key for like two hundred bucks, but after I got it...I burned them on a campfire.” He dried away the tears. 

 

“And how can I believe you, Lance? You got a fucking A on that test. That’s unbelievable.” 

 

I felt his hands snake around my shoulders, pulling me into him, his face nuzzling in my hair. “You just have to trust me. You love me don’t you? _Te Amo,_ Keith. _Te amo_...I promise. I aced that test because of your help. The night before the final, I studied and I studied all night with your notes and tips. And I was tired as fuck during the test, but it went all easy-breezy. Promise. Please say something.” He kissed my temple, lingering the kiss on my head when I dried away my own silent tears. 

 

He didn’t cheat. I knew all along he wouldn’t have cheated. It wasn’t like him to go that far and ruin what good he had all year. I trusted him. I love him too much not to. So with that, instead of saying anything with my voice, I tackled him with my mouth. 

 

I crawled over to get on his lap and plant kisses all over his beautiful face. His hands went to my hoodie in nanoseconds pulling at the hem and dragging it off my body along with my white t-shirt. At the same time, I was tugging off his blue hoodie and t-shirt. We were at where we always ended up when we made out, but we both knew we wanted to go further this time. 

 

Still, the question was left hanging in the air when he fell on his back on the soft mattress, dragging me on top of him. His strong hands went to my back, pressing them firmly deep into my skin, kissing me with such a frantic force, his tongue jabbing in and out of my mouth and sucking on my own tongue uttering out low moans of want. Fuck. He felt so nice, smelled delicious like sweet honey and vanilla, I couldn't get enough of him. 

 

I moaned a satisfied sound back into his mouth, fumbling with my hands to his belt. “Lance..” I urged out with a loss of breath from his kissing. He read my face and pushed me off his body. My hands went to my own belt and I unbuckled it and dragged my pants all the way off until I was wearing black and red briefs. “Keith..is that..a condom - wait three!?” He had stripped down to his own blue briefs, pointing to the triple threat lying next to me on the bed. 

 

The condoms my dads gave me, they fell out of my pants, great. “Yeah..Adam and Shiro -”

 

“Say no more, babe. Or else it’ll get awkward. But, I want to if...if you want to.” His peachy lips were glistening, looked swollen and plumped from our heavy make-out session. Hells yes I wanted to. I smiled back, grabbing his neck and pulled him down to me again and kissing his mouth fervently. 

 

I shuddered underneath him, when he made his way down my body with hot kisses. When he reached my briefs, his blue eyes tipped up to mine giving me an asking look. My hair was splayed all over my face, but when I looked down and caught a gorgeous delinquent who I called mine, I smiled and nodded. 

 

They were off, and he explored this new part of me. It felt good, better than being in the shower or waking up alone in the morning. He was careful with me, and I tried so hard not to release so soon. I made a loud gasp, and told him to stop. “What? Did I hurt you? I didn’t bite, did I?” 

 

“No! No..it’s just...I don’t want...not so soon...if we’re going to…” I tried not to be too blunt with my words and he understood everything, fishing for a small tube of lube and dragging his own briefs off. 

 

We were naked. He was on top of me, naked. Lance McClain was naked on top of me. I’m going to stop saying naked now. He took one of the condoms and kissed my cheek, then kissed my neck, trailing his tongue down along my shoulder to my stomach, then all the way down to..”Lance...please. You’re too good at that and we only have three condoms.” I teased and earned a wicked grin from him as he peeled the condom on. 

 

“Fuck, you’re so pretty, babe. _Te Amo_..Keith.”

 

“Why won’t you say the L-word?” I cocked a black brow at him, while we both laid in the bed, naked, him pushed up on his tan hands to look at me with a threaded condom slicked with lube, and I wanted him to say the fucking L-word…

 

“All in good time, Mullet. But I do..” 

 

“I do, too.” 

 

And then we did it. And it was fucking amazing, and hurt like, as Adam said, like a bitch. 

 

I was cradling him in my arms after we did it, twice, him with me and me with him. We let the last condom rest on the nightstand just in case we wanted to play rock-paper-scissors- because we both liked it a little too much. Not the hurting part, but thank god it got better after we got used to it. And I knew I wanted more of him, all the time. 

 

Lance made a low pleasant hum while I kissed his neck. “Your hair is getting long, Lance. Maybe I need to call you Mullet.” I chuckled, nuzzling my nose against his bronze neck. 

 

“Shut up, babe. I’ll cut it...but you don’t get to cut yours, I want it nice and long on our wedding day.” 

 

“Seriously, we just had sex for the first time, Lance and now you’re proposing to me.” 

 

“I’m not planning on being with anyone else in my life. All I want from this day forth is you, only you. But this is not a proposal, not really. But if we do ever get married in the future, the far future, then I hope your hair is long and beautiful, and silky and smells like roses.” Lance gasped out loud. 

 

“What is it!? Do you take it all back? Don’t take it back, babe.”

 

“No! No...I just realized that if I want all of that, I need to tell my parents about us, they need to know Keith. They need to know how much you mean to me. How much I...nope I’m not saying it...waiting for that perfect moment, I want you crying like a fucking waterfall when I say it.”

 

“That’s mean..” I scoffed, but he turned around and kissed me hard on the lips. “I take it back. I’m waiting too. I have it all planned out..” I smiled. 

 

“I’m going to tell them, Keith. When we get back home from the ski trip, we’ll go to my parents house together and I’ll tell them everything.” 

 

“Even that we had sex?” 

 

“Maybe leave that out. But they need to know who I am, and if they don’t accept that..then fuck’em...I have you. I have Ruby, Shiro, Adam, Pidge, Hunk, Ryan, James, the girls, hell even Lotor..I’m lucky, Keith. And so fucking happy.” He kissed me hard again, not leaving a single ounce of that love he had for me, and it felt absolutely amazing. 

 

“I’m happy, too, Lance. And yes I’ll go with you. I’ll back you up forever, and ever.You’re my universe, and I can’t exist without it.” I smiled at him, kissing his palm. 

 

“That’s so cheesy, Mullet.” Lance kissed me once more, then held up a fist in my face smiling wantingly, raising a thin brow at me when he cracked that stupid grin of his,  

 

“Rock-paper-scissors?” 


	57. Out

There was a dream of spring running through my mind at the thought of February taking over the calendar. Today was the day. Lance was finally going to tell his parents about us, about who he truly is. And I was fucking terrified. 

 

Not only that, last night Shiro handed me a letter. I thought it was too small to be an acceptance letter, and felt my heart beat out of my chest thinking it might be a rejection letter already this early in the school year. But no, it was a letter for the scholarship and I was on the listing to get one of the two. All I had to do was send in a work made by me and a text explaining it, then they’ll find out if I’m good enough, worthy enough, to be serious, to receive the scholarship. 

 

The letter would have to take its round later. Today was going to be a long day. Or not, everything can play out well when we reach Lance’s house and reveal we’re a couple, and that we love each other to death and plan in the future to have a life together. Still, everything could go to hell, and Lance might be kicked out of his home, kicked out of his family. 

 

Fuck. 

 

This was all my fault. Had I not provoked him that first day we met at school and fallen hard for him after we started hanging out, Lance might still have a chance at living a normal life. 

 

I shook my head hard, knowing that this was what Lance wanted. This was who Lance was, and wanted to be, and he couldn’t be true to himself until his family knew the real him. The Lance who had a little more love to share than others, and every one deserved some love by my Lance. 

 

Miss Honerva’s class was slow. Lance was sitting in front of me, tapping his feet rapidly, sharing to the class how nervous he was about what he was going to do after school. All I wanted to do in that moment was pull at his shoulder to turn him around and give him a reassuring kiss on the cheek, whisper in his ear that everything is going to be alright, and if it doesn’t turn out alright, then he’d still have a home to come to, even if it wasn’t with his parents. We; Shiro, Adam, Ruby and I, we see this delinquent as part of our family and we’ll support him until the day we all die. He’s just become way too important to us. 

 

My gaze wandered to Lotor. He was sitting restlessly too, just like Lance. His brown expensive loafers tapping a havoc on the floor, coughing up a loud storm in the class in sync with Lance’s thudding of his white Adidas sneakers.

 

He might still think it’s weird that the woman teaching us English, preparing us for the upcoming exams in the spring. She was his birth mother and all along during the past 18 years of his life, he thought she was his aunt. Seems like we all had some skeletons in our closets and this year we were all pulling them out. Dusting them clean before burying the hatchet once and for all. 

 

Except for me. I still had some skeletons dangling hauntingly in my closet, but I could feel it, deep within my own bones, the light coming through. One day I’ll be able to let it out, let it all out and when that day comes, I don’t know what will happen to me, but it’ll be out, the thoughts, the troubles, the hurt, the despair, the hate, all the hate. I hope it all vanishes. I hope to every existing atom in this universe, that’ll I’ll be okay. 

 

I stare at the back of Lance’s brunet head. How his hair fell along the nape of his neck, curling slightly, shining from the lights on the ceiling. How it made my whole being shine brightly inside of me, giving me the warm tingles of joy, the safe feeling of knowing that if we both don’t make it through our problems, we’ll still have each other. Now and forever. 

 

The bell rang. “You ready?” I asked when Lance turned around to catch my steely eyes pinning him on the spot in his seat. 

 

His eyes were glazed with a worry sheen. Almost like he felt like crying, and it broke my heart staring at the fear in those eyes.

 

 “Lance?” I didn’t care about the other students. I grabbed his hand in mine, gripping it hard, looking at him with my serious face. “It’s going to be okay, babe. I’m here. I got you.” I caught a weak curl of his lips. 

 

“Sorry, all I could think about during class was this...and now that school is over, knowing we’re going to my place..I dunno, I can feel my whole body crumbling. Refusing to move.” 

 

“I’ll help you with that.” And I kissed him in front of everyone in the class. 

 

Everyone turned and gawked at the show I put on. Lance was making muffled screams in my mouth, all I could decipher was:  _ Keith, what are you doing.. _ .But he never told me to stop, so I deepened our kiss not having a care in the world, everyone had to know how much this doofus meant to me, and that he belonged to me and only me. That’ll teach the chicas eyeing him in class, and he’ll have no choice other than to tell his parents before they learn about it from a random student. May seem like I’m a bad boyfriend, but this boy was so stubborn that he needs these pushes because once he goes through with it, he always becomes radiant as the sun. 

 

I release him, and he’s smiling, dreamily, lost in translation from our amazing kiss. “Babe!” He slaps my shoulder, and everyone in our class is clapping, and whooping and even some of the girls are shouting _finally_ , or _go_ _get’im Keith_! 

 

“Sorry. I had to put my foot down knowing your were backing out of what is your most important obstacle. Now you have no choice but to tell them. Do you hate me?” I made a low pout, one I knew always made him melt and feel sorry for me. He had his tricks up his sleeves and I had mine. 

 

Lance made a loud sigh, holding a hand up and wearing a proud smile at our classmates thanking them with their congratulations, it was almost like we had gotten pregnant or were getting married. But, seeing the happy look on Lance’s face, having him be able to flaunt me as his boyfriend in front of everyone. I knew I did the right thing. Now he had to do the right thing if we wanted this to go on. 

 

Parked outside the driveway to his house. I noticed how green Lance’s face had become, you could almost compare the color to the specks in his irises that were having a party of their own. During the whole trip over he had been trying to talk about different things to keep his mind occupied from knowing that he was going to come out to his parents today. 

 

He surprised me when he mentioned which song he wanted to sing in the talent show, and it warmed my heart tenfold knowing he was willing to sing in front of an audience. Well, if you count me tagging along in the song, but I’d have to take it since we’re finally here, outside his house, ready for everything or nothing, only the universe could decide our fates. 

 

“Lance?” I held a hand to his forehead, swiping away his bangs, catching a nervous smile curl on those peachy lips.  

 

I had never seen Lance this nervous before. And that was an understatement compared to when I mentioned he had to sing in front of a live audience. “Babe, we don’t-” I closed my mouth. We both knew very well that it had to be now, because there was no never when it came to our relationship. 

 

We were out pretty much everywhere now. Home, our friends, and now the whole school knew about the two of us as an item. All that was missing in the complicated jigsaw of emotions was coming out to his parents. We both knew that they deserved to know. Not only that, Lance deserved to have a life without keeping his sexual identity a secret. Coming out to his parents was inevitable to say the least, and we both felt ready for this day to finally shine through.  

 

I had an ounce of a feeling that his big sister Veronica already knew about him, she seemed like that character given from the last and only time I met her. Her presence told me when she looked at me all knowingly that there was definitely something more going on between Lance and I. 

 

He was lost in translation again. Eyes glassy, mouth opened slightly ajar, ears red; burning a cherry red flame. “Babe. Come on, you know how proud I am of you. I know this can become a difficult afternoon, but I believe in you, so, so much.” 

 

My hand was wiping away the sweat that had build up on his forehead, then continued with petting the crown of his head giving him soothing noises to calm the thumping of his rapidly beating heart. Seriously, I was sitting a ways away from him in the driver’s seat, but even I could feel his heart hammering hard, like an avalanche. 

 

“They’re your parents, Lance. They have to love you no matter who you are, and who you choose to love. Please…” I whispered in his ear, pulling him closer to me, “So proud, just like last time, like coming out to my dads. It will be just like that. I promise. I’m here with you, remember that. And if this whole evening goes sideways, know that you are not alone. You have me and my family to take you in, to back you up.” 

 

His unsteady shaking body was finally calming, the rigid breaths turning stable, and the color in his face normalizing to that honey bronze gold that always reminded me of the sun, and how much I love him. 

 

When our gazes caught, he made a faint smile, eyes closed, forehead planted to mine. “I think I’m almost ready.” 

 

“Almost?” 

 

“Yeah...I need to think of what I’m going to do if my parents can’t see or understand how much I- okay this day is a freebie day, no contests - but how much I fucking love you, Mullet. If they don’t accept you as my boyfriend, then I’m scared I’m going to sock it to’em.” 

 

There was no doubt about it. The Lance who was cowering a minute ago had vanished into thin air, and my delinquent had stepped through welcoming a new challenge. 

 

I almost bursted out in a laughing fit of his choice of words. “Sock it to them? What like you would be willing to hit your own mother for me?” 

 

To be frank, it was kind of endearing how far he was willing to go for our relationship, but sometimes I think he just loved being a drama queen and a little bit over exaggerated. It was of his nature as Lance McClain. 

 

My eyes glanced quickly at the clock on the dashboard. We were going to have dinner with them at 5, and it was 4:56. We needed to get our asses in gear, we didn’t want them to be more frustrated, knowing what was going to go down after we did some munching on grub, talked about our days and then drop a bomb on them. Ugh, I felt my own pulse quicken at that thought and my own stomach doing tumbles and twists. But, no going back. 

 

“Hey, I was close to hitting her last time for what she did to you. You have no idea how angry I got. Seriously, I almost turned into a fucking tornado, hadn’t it been for Ronnie grabbing mamá from me, I think I might have done a huge mistake..” His expression revealed how much he should not sock it to them, but rather use his words. 

 

“Anyways. No one, not even my parents get to make you feel worthless. You are the moon, you are the universe to me, Mullet. I’m the only one to make you feel like crap, and that’s only when I kick your ass in zombie games.” His wicked grin flashed, and I needed to kiss him immediately. 

 

My hands found their rightful place on the back of his neck, dragging him close to me, and our lips finally meet after what feels like an eternity since last time, but it was just when we were at school which wasn’t that long ago. 

 

Our kiss deepened, like our lives depended on it, and Lance made a humming noise that was so pleasing and sounded like music to my ears. “Ready?” I asked when we broke our kiss, and he gave a half nod, which would have to suffice. 

 

“Hola? Mamá, Papá. I’m home, Keith is here, too.” Lance called while we took off our outdoor clothes and left our backpacks with them. 

 

Lance’s mother appeared from the kitchen. “Ahh, mi hijo. Good to see you. How was school, did you have a good day? Keith! It’s been too long, I’m so sorry about last time. Ay, Lance’s papá and I have been feeling so bad…” 

 

“It’s all water under the bridge, Mrs. McClain. I’m glad you wanted me to join you for dinner again, Lance has been bugging me for a while now.” I jabbed an elbow in Lance’s side, and caught a happy wave in his eyes for the moment. Seems like things were going well with him, no pre-fright jitters creeping back. 

 

“Come, come! Dinner is just about ready. We made Lance’s favorite today since he was bringing you over. He still talks about you all the time querido, we almost find it a little sweet. It’s so good to see Lance having such a great best friend.” His mother cooed with glee, presenting the table and the dinner steaming on top. 

 

Lance and I found our chairs, along with his papa and mama. “Keith, good to see you again. I hope you are doing better after the last time...again, we are sorry. We didn’t know you had such a traumatizing-” Lance cleared his throat, stopping his papa from saying anything else. 

 

Although, I didn’t mind them mentioning my mother or father. Ever since the last time, I have been feeling stronger, both in physicality and mentality. Like a breath of fresh air was healing me, like a tickle of the warm sun making sure that everything was going to be fine. 

 

We said our prayers and talked about the talent show, how Lance was going to perform, and his parents were looking forward to hearing Lance play one of his songs. They chatted about the college we both applied to and discussed when we would be receiving confirmations or declines, which usually happened in the spring. 

 

I mentioned how I had applied to a scholarship since the course I wanted was very prestigious and cost more than any of the other courses at the school. What I left out was the confirmation for a new submission for the scholarship, I decided to leave that to when Lance and I were finally alone since I needed to ask him something regarding that matter. 

 

At long last, dinner ended, and mama dished up a nice ice cream dessert. “So Keith, how is Adam? Does he have a wife who has adopted you too, or?” 

 

Then it hit me like last time, and Lance made a scrunched face like he had forgot to mention - again - that Adam was gay and was married to Shiro. Fine, I’ll rip off this band-aid. 

 

I wiped my mouth with a napkin. “Actually, Adam is married to my long time neighbor, Shiro. I practically see him as my father, too. They both adopted me when I was eight, so I’ve been their kid for the past ten years, and they also adopted my little sister, Ruby, who was born in South Korea and became an orphan.” I smiled warmly to Lance’s parents when I talked about my family. 

 

“Why, Lance hasn’t mentioned your father was gay. And married too? Is that even allowed?” She actually asked if two people in love were allowed to marry. Well, they weren’t related and we lived in a state that legalized same sex marriage so surely she must know. 

 

I tried to keep a straight face, but my blood was boiling. “Of course. Oh, and only Adam is gay, Shiro is bisexual. I’m gay too.” Yeah, I went there. 

 

Lance was holding his spoon close to his mouth, mouth open and ocean eyes coursing with tidal waves at my confession. 

 

His mama perks up at the information I landed on her, hoping it might ease the bomb we were going to drop any minute now. My gaze caught Lance again, and he seemed normal, but for some reason I thought I noticed his hand shaking when he took a bite of his ice cream. 

 

“That’s fine, querido. You are probably not religious. Our Lance here, he’s going to find a wonderful catholic girl who will bear us so many babie, won’t you mi amor?” She petted her son on the head, but he swatted her hand away. 

 

“No, mamá. What if I don’t want to find a nice catholic girl...haven’t you ever thought about what I really want?” Lance let out, taking a new intake of breath. 

 

“‘Course mi amor, she’s doesn’t have to be catholic, but we like for her to be a christian, of some of the same belief as us.” His mamá tried to explain, but Lance made a pained groan. 

 

“What is bothering you, son?” His papá suddenly asked. 

 

“What if I told you two that I’ve already found someone. Someone I love very much, who makes me happy, who makes me want to take on the world, the universe, who makes me feel good and special and want to prove to everyone how amazing I am.” He winked a blue-green eye at me, and I winked back, feeling my heart clenching at his sudden heartfelt words. 

 

“Why that’s fantastic mi amor, you have to let us meet her.” His papa nodded along with his mama. 

 

Lance found me again, his blue eyes so certain, so set on doing this, and I haven’t loved him more than at this exact moment. “What if I told you he was already sitting at this table.” 

 

And both his parents ended up staring at me. 

 


	58. Repercussions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof- sorry to hit you with this incoming fast train...

I felt a sudden strike in my chest when Lance’s parents glared at me with questioning looks, or was it looks of horror? Sometimes the two might fuse together into the same look, but it was out there at least. 

 

Now, time for the repercussions. 

 

My spoon hit the table pretty hard, I wasn’t meant to slam it, but I sort of wanted their attention. “Yes. It’s true. I love your son, with all of my heart, Mr. and Mrs. McClain. Lance has become the best thing that ever happened to me. You should know how much he’s helped me-”

 

“Lance! What is the meaning of this?” His mother interrupted me on my speech of how much I love their son. Like really lady? 

 

“Mamá! You need to understand, I’m bisexual! I like girls and boys!” Lance shot up from his seat, both hands planted firmly on the table. “Please, you need to understand. I love Keith.” 

 

“Mi hijo, surely you only think that you love him?” His papa countered. 

 

Fuck, the worst was happening, and when I thought we would both be prepared for this, I could see Lance crumbling beneath them and it was breaking my heart. 

 

He was shaking his head rapidly at his papa’s statement. “No! Keith and I have been dating since November. We know how much we mean to each other. It’s not of thought, it’s something we are a million times positive about.” 

 

His mother held a hand up. “Listen you two. I know how things like these can be exciting and new. Trying out something forbidden, something as taboo as this.” 

 

Now my hand punched the table. “No! You don’t get to call this taboo. I have proof at home, that love can come in all forms. And same sex love is just like straight love.” My voice was turning hoarse because I had to scream this out for them to understand. 

 

“It’s just a phase, mi hijo. You two boys, I know how much you love each other, but it has to be as friends. A friendship bond like yours can easily equal to love, but it’s just that, friendship...right, Lance?” His mother straight up ignored my shouting. 

 

I understand her beliefs were strong, but she had to at least accept her son for being in love and happy. Right? 

 

There was an eerie stillness in the dining room. His papa silent. His mama looking pleadingly at her son. And Lance, he was staring at me with all the burning love he had for me, and I was staring back at him with that same intensity. No one was going to stop us. Not even his family. 

 

“I can’t apologize for who I am, mamá, papá. If you can’t accept me being with Keith as more than friends, as the person I see myself having a future with-” He left the table and stood behind my chair, grabbing my hand into his, kissing the top of my head. I tipped my head up to catch his face, he was crying, silent tears falling, but he was smiling too. “then I can’t accept you as my parents. Come on, Keith we’re leaving this place.” 

 

“Lance! You stop this instant.” His mother left the table following me and him to the front door. “You are only 17, mi hijo, your life is just starting. Ay, the music, your abuela, she did this, put these...these thoughts in your mind! Turning you into... _diablo_.” His mother said low, crying. 

 

Lance punched a hand through his jacket sleeve. “Fucking serious, mamá! Two men can have a life together! Look at Keith’s dads, they’ve raised Keith to be an exemplary student at school, they have an awesome daughter who has the brightest smile in the entire universe and a heart made of gold - I’ve never seen two people more in love. I envy Keith, mamá. Because he has parents who support him for who he chooses to be, and who he wants to love...maybe you should learn a thing or two from them.” 

 

I made it to the front step when Lance opened the door. “Mi hijo, you can’t just leave us like this. We can help you-”

 

“What if it were Ronnie?” Lance asks, his back to his mother, looking down at the step, blue eyes turned into a raging flame. 

 

“What?” 

 

“What if Ronnie came out as gay! What if she fell in love with a girl!? How would you have taken it then? Would you have accepted who she loves since she’s the favorite? Tell me now.” He was staring hard at his mother, his mother staring equally hard back, but with a hint of hurt in her eyes. 

 

She stayed quiet, not being able to give him an answer. But it was all the answer Lance needed. “So two men together is different, huh. Well you can fuck off. I am bisexual, and I am with Keith. And I hope one day you can see for yourself how much he fucking means to me. Don’t wait up for me or anything. Until you can accept this, I’ll be living at Keith’s place.” He gives me a look that’s asking if that’s alright, and I make a soft smile letting him know it’s not a problem. 

 

“Lance..” His mother croaked, but Lance ignored her and drags me back to my car. 

 

In the car ride back, Lance broke down and cried his eyes out. The palms of his tan hands were firmly resting against his eyes, trying to stop the tears welling in his eyes, but they kept trickling down like a dam had bursted. 

 

While I drove, all I could do was give him a hand to feel safe into. With the palm of my hand curving his cheek, and my voice making soothing noises, Lance eventually calmed down, resting his head on the seat headrest, glancing out the car window. 

 

“Hey...I don’t want to say that everything is going to be okay since- well, since the worst happen. But, at least it’s all finally out there. We can be a couple now. We can show the world what we have to offer. Lance and Keith, rivals in love. The Lance and Keith, neck and neck. You like the sound of that?” My heart burst with joy when a careful, croaky chuckle finally left his mouth. 

 

My palm was still caressing his cheek, and he leaned in to kiss it. And I felt his smile in it. “Thank you, babe. For putting up with me, and all this. Thank you so fucking much for waiting this long. I envy your patience. And I love you so much.” 

 

“No, babe. Thank you, and I love you too. Thank you for being true to yourself, for sticking up to who you are, even if it were your parents you told to fuck off. If I told Adam or Shiro off like that they’d have my head..” Lance snickered at how true that was. Adam was not someone to boss around, he could make the toughest of yakuza bosses cower. 

 

We made it to my house, and found the gang in their usual spot, only this time, The Little Mermaid occupied the screen and Ruby was singing along dancing around the living room with her happy, bubbly face. 

 

“Hey, guys…” I pulled Lance with me into the living room, both of us slumping down where there was a free space for the both of us to cuddle up into each other. 

 

Lance wounded up laying between my legs like a kitten, and I played with his hair while he had a contemplated and sad face. 

 

“So.” Adam bumped the heel of his palm of Shiro’s knee cap. “How did it go?” 

 

They both knew Lance was going to come out to his parents today, and they even told me that he could stay as long as he wanted if the whole thing went sour. Which it did, and I’m sure they caught onto the mood pretty quickly. 

 

“Not good. Lance is gonna stay here until further.” Lance had fallen asleep on my chest. With everything that happened today, I couldn’t blame him, it must have taken so much energy out of him so some sleep might do him some good. 

 

Shiro found a blanket from the basket next to the couch and pulled it over Lance and I. Petting his head of soft brown hair. “It was that bad, huh?” Shiro pointed out, a sad expression finding his face now. 

 

“Yeah. First his parents didn’t know you two were married, and sort of called being in love with a man as taboo, then Lance finally told them he loved me and that we were dating...and when I thought they finally understood and would accept us as a couple, his mother bursts out with all of this being only a phase and that his dead grandmother had planted ideas in his head and she…” I hadn’t realized I was crying until Shiro held a hand out to my face, wiping away the tears falling down my cheeks. “She called him diablo, you guys.” A hitch broke out of my throat, and I dropped my head on top of Lance’s who was still sound asleep. 

 

“I’m sure they’re just shocked. I know they’re highly religious people, and they probably thought their only son would end up marrying a nice girl. Parents can react this way, Keith. Give them time...or did they cast him out of the house?” Adam made a worried look at Lance, resting a hand on his back. 

 

“No. He threw himself out of the house. But you should have seen his mother...I don’t think she’s going to change her mind.” 

 

“Don’t say that too soon. Like I said, she’s just shocked. Let the information simmer for a couple weeks. You think you and Lance can handle living together that long? You know all couples find out if they really belong together once they start living together, that’s when a lot of new secrets come out.” Adam stared knowingly at his husband. 

 

“What. It’s not my fault you never asked to see my stamp collection.” Shiro shot out. 

 

I broke out in a loud laugh, waking Lance up. “Mmmm...Babe?” He dragged himself up from my chest, catching Adam and Shiro smiling softly at him. 

 

“Hey, bud. You’re welcome to stay here for as long as you like. And since we’re cool parents, you two can sleep in the same room. We’ve decided to take a chance and trust the two of you. You use protection, right?” Adam winked a hazel eye and my whole body went up in flames. Way to use that tactic, now they know we could have sex, but not dare doing it knowing that they knew. Ugh, he was good. 

 

“Daddy, Papá, is Lance going to live with us forever!?” Ruby finally joined the conversation when the end credits to The Little Mermaid scrolled down the screen. 

 

Shiro grabbed her and sat her on his knee. “Not forever. But he’s going to stay here a little while, isn’t that great!?” Ruby clapped her hands in delight and jumped into Lance’s lap. 

 

“I’m going to have to call your parents to let them know you’re staying here. Is that alright?” Adam squeezed Lance’s knee, letting him know that he wouldn’t have to go back home even if his parents forced him back. 

 

“Thanks, Adam. Cap.” Lance smiled at my dads. 

 

“Anything for you kid, you’re practically family now.” Adam winked again and rose from the couch to go call his parents. 

 

Shiro grabbed Ruby to the kitchen to get give her an evening meal before bedtime. 

 

“How you holding up now? Did it help to sleep off some of today?” I asked Lance, who fell back down on my chest, rolling to the side, playing with my hand. 

 

“I’m better. Your dads are amazing. If it hadn’t been for you and them, I’d be an emotional wreck.”

 

“Even more than you usually are?” I chuckled, kissing his temple, dragging my fingers through his hair which smelled lovely like flowers again reminding me of a tough time of my own, but it was withstandable now thanks to him. 

 

“Can it, Mullet. Today’s been a ride. I can admit, I expected the worst, and we got it. Now to let it all take its course, I guess. I’m glad I get to live with you though. Think you can handle me, your drama queen, your attention whore, I’m going to force you to do my skin care routine every night. And we’re gonna need robes.” 

 

“Lance!” 

 

He cracked a sweet smile and melted all of my insides. “Let’s look at this as a trial run before we become roommates in college. Hopefully, you can survive my dads. They’re the real drama queens.” 

 

Lance tipped his head up and kissed me gently, but grabbed my body roughly and flipped me until I was under him completely and he was pinning me down with his knees, staring behind him to make sure the coast was clear. “Let’s give them a real challenge, babe.” And we wounded up making out on the couch until someone screamed for us to go to my room. 


	59. Easing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's where my writing might seem unusual to how I've written the earlier chapters. I seem to see the difference in the writing, but if you don't then thank you. I honestly feel like I've lost the ability to form words into coherent, okay written sentences...Now I feel like I'm just sputtering words to form some kind of continuation to this story. Sorry, if the story may feel off, I'm trying my best to boost my want and inspiration to continue and finish this gem of mine, so we'll see.
> 
> Hope you like this chapter at least. :)

A week sped past, and surprisingly, no one’s heads had been ripped off. At least until I heard Lance scream my name from the bathroom. 

 

“Yeah, babe?” I found him staring harshly at the sink. 

 

He was wearing a blue robe with gold trimmings, he bought me a similar one but in red, his hair caught twirled up into a towel, and giving me a look of despair. “Someone used up my night cream!” He held the small round container of, what he has told me, expensive night cream to prevent wrinkles in the future. 

 

Sheesh, he already had a perfect face with perfect skin, I’m sure one night without the night cream will be fine. But, I was not going to tell him that. 

 

“I think maybe Shiro might have stolen a glob or two...I’ve been catching him up here a couple times snooping around.” I confessed, and Lance slumped his shoulders in defeat, knowing it would be a lost battle going against the Captain. 

 

Lance had been doing better this past week. His parents still hadn’t made any contact, but they hadn’t forced him to come home or send him to a camp to force the gay out of him. Still, it worried me that they might not try to accept him as who he is and who he loves. And we all knew he couldn’t live here permanently until the school year was over. I’m sure Adam wouldn’t allow it, at least when it came to food expenses and things in the like. 

 

My dads had been great, serving Lance with breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday, but it did make its view in their wallets. Feeding one more grown up boy took a lot of money from them, and Lance was feeling bad, he was almost thinking of finding his own place to live, but he didn’t have a job or any money for that matter. 

 

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have snapped. This week has been weird.” Lance folded his arms, and looked back at the sink with a sad blue gaze. 

 

I grabbed hold of his waist, standing close behind him, nuzzling into the space between his neck and shoulder, my nose tickling his ear. “I understand completely. But we need to give them more time, okay. The talent show is in less than two weeks, if we focus all our time and energy on that, then you won’t need to think about your parents. Sound like a plan?” 

 

He turned around, and grabbed hold of my neck, that warm, dazzling smile reaching my insides trying to do a crash course landing before my heart decided to explode. 

 

“Yeah, sounds good. Te amo, mi amor.” He pressed his lips firmly against mine. “Babe..” His voice muffled, trying to ask me something but our lips were busy, and I kept them busy by catching his tongue with my lips, sucking on it for a long time.  

 

I ignored him and kept on kissing him. Kissing his cheek first, then going down to his jawbone, planting a firm kiss to his neck, nibbling it. A loud happy sigh left him, and at last I went down to his collarbone, catching the skin between my lips there, sucking it hard, a small dark mark materializing as my lips released the warm, bronzed skin, then went back to it because he was just too good for comfort. 

 

“We-” He squirmed at my touch, his body collapsing against the sink, his hands threading through my hair as I continued to suck the skin more, untying his robe to catch his bare body with my hands. “Do you think your dads would mind-” His knees buckled now when my mouth trailed a path of wet, sloppy kisses down his chest. A smile tugging on my lips, when I heard a choked whimper of want forcing out of his throat.  

 

“I have protection, don’t worry. But we need to be quiet.” I ran my tongue along his torso now, and he clamped his mouth shut to desperately hold back any more lewd noises. 

 

We hadn’t had sex since the ski trip, and every night this past week has been a fucking nightmare of hard ons. It didn’t help to release ourselves through masturbation either because we were in the same room, in the same fucking bed, under the covers, our skin touching...The shower was the only way of release, but we were both having awful blue balls from not giving in to our urges on each other.

 

It was out of respect for my dads, and little Ruby of course. But, they said we could stay in the same room for pete’s sake. Adam and his little schemes. He knew allowing us to stay in the same room would lead to us thinking about them, knowing that they would be on to us if we wanted to have sex. 

 

“I don’t know...last time, I was fucking scared we would wake up the whole lodge, Mullet. You feel too good….” He rested his head on my shoulder, kissing the skin close to his lips, sending hot shivers from that point of my body to all the right spots causing my own knees to buckle. Fuck, we needed to do this now, right now. 

 

“We could drive to the campsite and do it in my car?” I suggested, and that got a laugh out of him. 

 

“Well aren’t you a little daredevil?” 

 

“No, just really horny…” I admitted, and Lance made an approving hum. 

 

We wounded up carefully making out in my bed. The lights all the way off, the door locked, I triple checked that it was locked, Lance had the protection on with lube on it as fast as lightning.

 

It was over too soon. Guess we had both been wanting this again for too long that when we started, it ended right after he entered me. Don’t get me wrong, it was amazing, but I think knowing who was sound asleep downstairs and three rooms down the hall sort of killed the mood. 

 

“Was it good for you?” Lance asked, leaned on his elbow, looking at me with a worried stare. 

 

“‘Course. Oh my god! It was really good, babe. It’ll always be good with you. But next time, when we’re all alone, it’ll be good and even better.” I grab his neck and pull him down to me, kissing him softly on the lips. “At least we can do this as much as we want.” I kiss him again. Then I kiss him harder, again, then again until we’re finding a new condom. 

 

\-- 

 

The next morning, Lance and I were exhausted. We wounded up going through two more condoms the night before, being careful not to make any loud noises, and thank goodness neither Adam nor Shiro gave any indication that they were on to or heard us. 

 

_ Thank God _ , so we were quiet, that was a relief knowing we could continue with this until he has to move out again, which no one could approximate since, well, since his parents weren’t doing anything to get him back and it bugged the hell out of me. It was bugging me so much that I wanted to march up there myself and give them my own wording on this matter. Trust me, there wouldn’t be much left of them if I had my way because Lance deserved the world, no, the fucking universe with all the stars in it on a silver platter. 

 

Lance was quiet around the breakfast table, staring drowsily at his syrup-drowned pancakes, head slumped inside the palm of his hand. I squeezed his thigh receiving a tired smile before perking up when I heard Adam talking to the table.  

 

He steered his hazel eyes towards me while giving Ruby her yoghurt, who happily took it and chugged a spoon with a large gloop of the yoghurt on it into her little mouth, humming at how good it tasted. 

 

“Your father and I are taking Ruby to a birthday party today so the two of you need to find your own dinner.” Adam said, walking back to the stove, flipping the pancakes in the pan. 

 

“Sure thing, we can call Hunk and Pidge over and have a pizza party.” I said, digging into my pancakes, drowning them in maple syrup. 

 

I was telling myself and Adam a lie when I mentioned having Pidge and Hunk over. Today was the day I was waiting for. Shiro and Adam needed to leave the house with Ruby, and I scored when Ruby got invited to a birthday party a couple weeks ago. Everything I had planned, was planned for this exact day. But, someone else didn’t get the memo yet, and I needed to ask him a very important question.

 

Earlier this week, I had the chance to drive to the arts supply store on my own, gathering what I needed for today. Paints in the correct colors, brushes, a paint plate to mix the colors if needed. It was vital that I get these supplies in time before today, because it needed to be today, we needed to be alone. All alone for a long while. 

 

At last while I roamed the art store that day, I searched for the perfect canvas. Size, width, height, it all needed to be perfect for what I wanted to paint, but then it hit me like a bus when I roamed my brain and the memories I had with Lance during the first half of our relationship, before we became boyfriends, before we said we loved each other, before everything. 

 

His back. His beautiful, strong, toned, detailed back. It was all the canvas I needed, if he’d let me use it. I gulped as I trailed around in my brain, pulling me back to the breakfast, to my pancakes, staring at Lance munching on his own pancakes, a low hum of delight escaping his throat at Adam’s famous recipe. Seeing his face light up by the taste of a fluffy pancake warmed my heart, it eased so much tension that had been building up inside of me knowing how much Lance had been hurting this past week. 

 

“Okay, you guys! We’re heading out. I left a twenty on the counter so that you can order a pizza later. Tell Pidge and Hunk we said hi, I’ll text when we’re on our way home.” Shiro winked a steel grey eye at me, and I made a low groan hoping he wasn’t warning us in case we decided to have sex or anything. Which would totally be our plan had I not had anything else planned for our evening alone. Alone, alone, since Pidge and Hunk were just decoys I told them in case they thought we were only thinking about sex. Which we didn’t, not per se at least. Even when you think about what Lance and I did three times last night, but that wasn’t case here right now. 

 

Adam held Ruby on his waist waiting by the front door for Shiro to get a move on. Ruby was holding the present she picked out for her friend at daycare, with the help of Lance and I when we went shopping with her the other day.

 

She was adorable. All she wanted to do was show Lance all of the dolls she wanted for her own birthday, which was soon. Damn, my little sister was growing up so fast, she even looked older ever since the first day she met Lance. Her black, silky hair was curling at the bottom, reaching almost down to her waist. Her eyes shined every time Lance laughed at one of her silly jokes. I couldn’t understand how his parents were so quick to disown him like that, he was the best person in the whole world. Alle he ever had to offer was love, and even more love. 

 

Lance and I stood by the kitchen opening that faced out to the foyer, his arm resting safely around my waist, and my head falling gently down on his shoulder. We almost looked like a married couple saying goodbye to our friends for coming over to dinner. The thought made my insides slide side to side. I would love to have a future like this with Lance, but not with him being on bad terms with his parents. That had to be fixed, and soon. My best guess was the day of the talent show which was in almost two weeks, on Valentine’s Day of all days. If his parents still couldn’t accept him for who he was by then, I’ll have to butt in, and that won’t be a pretty sight. Seriously, I have a whole thing planned ready. 

 

The door closed silently when Adam, Shiro and Ruby left for the birthday party. Instantly, Lance grabbed my face and caught my lips with his own. Soft, plumped, lemon flavored lips pressed themselves firmly against mine and a hurricane was storming in my chest. I couldn’t get enough of Lance’s kisses, but we didn’t have time for this right now. 

 

I gave him one more deep, loving kiss, pushing him back. We still stood between the kitchen and the foyer, his hands had found my hair, fingers thread between my long locks, almost like he was giving me a scalp massage. 

 

“What is it? We have the whole place to ourselves for at least four hours. We should make the most of it.” Lance said, waggling his brows, trying to show off his sexy prowess but it wasn’t working, okay, it was working a whole lot but I needed to get to business. 

 

My left hand found the back of Lance’s neck, pulling him down to me, planting a soft kiss on his lips, chaste, feather light, indicating that we were not going to kiss more for the time being. He took the hint, crashing his ocean at me, and sliding those puckered lips to the side of his face.  _ Don’t make that face, _ I thought cracking into an amused grin at him. 

 

“Lance, there’s something I need to ask, but first I need to show you something.” I grabbed his hand, threading our fingers and guided him into our living room. 

 

All of my art supplies were stashed on the floor next to the L-shaped sofa in the room, but Lance couldn’t see them. I took hold of both of his shoulders, then sat him down in the middle of the couch. He gave me an odd stare when I sat down on the coffee table, staring directly at him, my gloved hands fumbling to help me find the right words. 

 

“Uh- I..” I was stuttering, not knowing exactly why I felt so nervous. It was Lance, my boyfriend, the one I loved most in the universe, the boy who’d go to any distance for me if I ever felt lost or in trouble. 

 

There was a slight shine in Lance’s eyes, the green specks in his irises flying all over the place. Shit, he might think I’m going to break up with him or something.  _ Stupid, stupid, Keith.  _ Both of my gloved hands shot up to his face, shaking like crazy, and I shook my head rapidly at him hoping he’d get the message that nothing was up, or bad, was happening between us. 

 

Lance let out a relieved breath. “Fuck, Mullet, don’t scare me like that. Or else I’d have to use my final ticket to your heart, and that would blow the whole competition. Trust me, I have it all planned out for when I tell you how much I-” He stopped talking, catching my smile, and mirrored it back, leaning in to land a new chaste kiss on my lips. Fuck, he tasted so good, I wish I could staple his lips to mine. 

 

I made a delighted hum when he finally pulled back after getting in more kisses than planned. “So. What did you want to tell me, or ask me?” His hands took hold of my fidgeting hands. He sat upright in the sofa while I was still sat on the coffee table closely across him staring leveled at him. I had to pull one of my hands away from his warm ones to pull out a letter from my back pocket. 

 

He stared at the white letter. “Is that? Keith, did you get in already?” I pushed down on his shoulder, as he was about to shoot up and hug me and to keep back any cheering yet, and shook my head at him. 

 

“No. Not yet, but I am in the qualifications to get the scholarship. There are like only five contenders left, and two of the five get the scholarship.” My lips spread past my cheeks, and Lance was over the moon by whooping and cheering for me. 

 

“That’s amazing, Mullet! I’m so proud of you, and never doubted you one second. So, why do you need to talk to me about this? I’m happy for you and all that, and I hope we both get into the college, but you look so worried. I’ve noticed the look on your face this past week, like someone had to force you to choke down those fucking disgusting meatballs from school.” Lance chuckled loudly at that, and his fucking laugh was so infectious that I had to laugh along with him, hitting him a couple times on the arm to make him calm down. 

 

“Shut it, you dimwit. Let me get this out. I need to- uh- well, they need me to submit an artistic piece and write an essay or a story to go along with it, and-” I went quiet, wracking my brain on how I was going to ask Lance this. 

 

We caught gazes when I tipped my head up to his, catching a wave and pretending to feel the calmness of a summer breeze wafting through my hair, blowing lightly on my face. Helping my beating heart still to a normal pace. “I want to paint your back, Lance. If you’ll let me?” 

 


	60. Painting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally got through one of the most difficult chapters ever. Hopefully, I breeze through some more chapters once my writing mood picks up again. 
> 
> This is not the difficult chapter. It'll come soon. Just wanted to give you guys some positivity regarding this fic. :)

Lance let go of my hand, crossing his arms, and his legs for good measure because he’s a fucking dramaqueen, cocking his perfectly arched brow at me. “Okay? But, why…?” His blue eyes were slowly moving around, and it was obvious to see that he was trying to figure out an explanation to my sudden question. 

 

Instead of telling him why I wanted to paint his beautiful back, I grabbed hold of the hem of his (my) tight black t-shirt, pulling it up, and all the way off. The sight of topless Lance always left me breathless. The boy himself was breathtaking, always. Even when he opened his mouth and spilled out a musical of swear words, he would always take my breath away. 

 

He was quiet, which is often a first and always shocked me for a quick two seconds. But, I took the chance during the sudden stillness to get off the coffee table and straddle him instead. A low grunt left his throat letting me know that he wasn’t going to be the only one of the two of us being topless, and proceeded to pull my Ninja Turtles t-shirt off, leaving me as bare as him. 

 

Our chests touched, hot, our skin against skin, and the shivers that were riding up and down my spine decided to spread down to my thighs and up along my neck and jaw, landing its course all the way to the apples of my cheeks painting them red. He did this to me, every time his skin touched me, and I never wanted it any other way. Looking at him always caused an ember in my chest to burst into flames, letting me know that I could withstand that burning pain of the nightmare that roamed my dreams at night. He was my saving grace, my hero, my love. 

 

Even if we were bare chested, proximity to nothing between us, our lips still hadn't been met. We just sat there in the quiet, looking at each other. My dark eyes drawing forth an electric storm of want from his blue-green eyes, my favorite part of him. I smacked my lips together, sensing a low quiver of my bottom lip when I took in Lance’s lips glistened from his own smacking, desperate to taste me. 

 

“Lance.” I breathed his name, and his lips grabbed hold of mine, catching every single nerve ending that existed in my lips, causing that fire to burn as bright as it ever had. In this very moment, I never had loved Lance more than I ever did, and I looked forward to more years together with him. 

 

We parted our lips as fast as a lightning bolt, his tongue sweeping gently against mine. His lips sucking the tip of my tongue, loud grunts turning into moans of pleasure were leaving his throat; knowing, ecstatic that we were home alone and could go all out if we wished to. 

 

And he kept at it, as did I. We were in our briefs at last, and I had to, unfortunately, stop him from pulling them off me, since we weren’t going to have sex again quite yet. Don’t worry, this might be the only time we’d be home alone like this, we would have to make the most of it no matter what, but we had gotten a bit side tracked in the moment. 

 

We were at a loss for breath after our heavy makeout session. Lance was lying on his back on the sofa, me lying next to him, perched on my elbow to run my nails along his spine. His scar, white flesh against bronze, it was still so hauntingly beautiful and always made me think about the connection I felt with it, with Lance, my boyfriend. 

 

“Look what you and your stupid mouth did, doofus. I was about to tell you why I wanted to paint your back, then your mouth decides it’s the perfect time to attack me!” I exclaimed haphazardly, breathing out sharp breaths, still tracing my fingernail along his long spine. 

 

When my fingertip neared a white line of his scar, I started tracing the whole thing. As my finger traced along the blooming firework of Lance’s beautiful scar, I dipped down to kiss him in the heart of it, between his broad, strong shoulder blades, his spine touching my lips. He hummed at the touch of my lips on his warm skin, I hummed back, feeling safe, feeling happy, feeling alive and well. 

 

“The first time I laid eyes on your scar, Lance.” I started, and Lance craned his neck to look at me, ocean eyes sending ripples of green towards me. “It was in the showers in the boys locker rooms that first week you started at GP. I didn’t know you, and we had only had that one conversation together, but when I witnessed the pink and white hues of your scar, the lines as they traced out your whole upper back, looking like a flower rooting it’s hold on you, I felt a sort of connection to you.” 

 

Lance grinned, the softness in his features going hard suddenly, the twinkle in his eyes sparking as he stared at me with an intensity that was hard to read. “I don’t think you you’ll feel the same connection when I tell you how-” 

 

Ignoring him, I pushed away some of his sweaty bangs, letting him roll onto his lovely back so that I could straddle him again, cupping both of my hands stroking the curve of his warm cheeks when I was on top of him. “Shh, we’ll get to that afterwards. Now. I need to paint you, Lance.” 

 

He smiled, kissing me lightly on the tip of my lips without pressing down or anything, something so innocent, so gentle and yet all the fireworks in the world had just gone off in a loud explosion. “Like, my back? You want to paint a portrait of my back, er- my scar?” He cocked a thin brown brow at me, mouth twisting up to a corner not quite getting what I meant by painting his back. 

 

I flicked his nose, chuckling. “No silly. I want to paint your back, in a literal sense. Like put paints on your back, then take a photo of it. I have an idea of what I want to paint, but I don't want you to see until it’s done. That sound okay?” 

 

Lance was making a thinking face, and looked adorable while he made it. Nose all flared, eyes narrowing, shining a light crystal blue with those green specks dancing along from the rays of the sun in the room. I couldn't contain my smile staring at him, feeling all the love welling inside of me ready to spill out as a beautiful portrait on his back. 

 

His smile found my dark eyes, and the world shook for a moment, cracking a grin on my own face. “Sure. I’m intrigued, mullet.” Lance said, and moved to find a seat on the coffee table, staring at the black mirror of the flat screen in front of us. 

 

I made a low frown, and Lance caught it in the reflection of the flat screen, a low chuckle leaving his throat. “You promised you wouldn’t call me that, babe…” I continued to make the pout, finding the supplies I bought to paint his back. 

 

The bag with all of the paint supplies layed next to the couch, and the crinkle sound of the bag caught Lance’s attention, his face craning to the side to take in what I had bought. I grabbed his jaw, that sharp jawbone and turned his face in a force to look at the screen. “No peeking, babe. I told you, I wanted you to wait until I was done.” I smiled, thanking the universe for bringing me this boy into my life. 

 

Acrylic paints in the shades of green, yellow, blue, red, black, purple and brown spilled out of the bag along with paint brushes, and a palette. I envisioned what I wanted to paint on my boyfriend’s back, and the sun still shined through the window, the warm rays touching my his lovely face, a heat of pleasure erupting from both our expressions. 

 

Man, I loved the boy in front of me so much, and I was not going to do wrong with this painting. If it didn’t win me a slot into my dream college, at least I knew that he trusted me enough to touch his scar, to gain a personal story from his past. One I will keep stored away deep within the confines of my beating heart. 

 

“Fuck, you’re so beautiful, Lance.” I said, and swooped his face with the palm of my hand to look at me. Those ocean eyes sinking deeper and deeper into my own.  _ How are you mine? _

 

Lance made a smirk. “You really think so...you don’t think my scar looks ridiculous….atrocious? I can admit, I was never a big fan of it…” His smirk twined down to a sad smile, and a jolt of confusion swerved inside of me. 

 

“Nonsense, Lance. I love all of you. Every single flaw that creates you, I will love till the end of time.” 

 

“Hah! You said you loved me!” 

 

“I said I loved all of you, not you in general. Doesn’t count.” I stuck my tongue out to him, pushing his head to stare the right way. 

 

“Now shush, I need to concentrate when I paint. That means no talking. Can you do that for an hour?” 

 

“AN HOUR? Keith, you know how much of a chatterbox I am. Can I at least put on a movie?  _ Tangled _ ?” His voice was laced with desperation, and it was understandable, calculating a whole hour for him to be quiet would be impossible for the dingus. 

 

I rolled my eyes and put on  _ Tangled _ for my boyfriend to sit still and stay quiet.  _ Such a child _ , I thought as I started carefully, my bushy black brows furrowed in a mean concentration and holding the paintbrush ready between my fingers, sketching out the picture in my head with the thinnest brush and a swab of black paint. 

 

Midway through the movie, Rapunzel and Eugene were in the boat again singing their feelings for each other, Lance’s favorite part. My whole body swayed with warmth when Lance started singing along with the movie, and it took all of me to join in and sing with him, but I needed to focus. 

 

The painting was coming along, it was turning into...something. Sometimes, the paint would be a dab bit cold and Lance would wiggle his shoulders or howl at how cold the paint was, but in the end, the picture in my head was turning into a reality and it was starting to look good. 

 

“You nearing something, Keith?” I heard Lance speak up, the end credits rolling along the screen. 

 

Damn, had it been over an hour since I started? I stared at his broad back. Colors were swirling all along the lines of his scar. It was beautiful. Not that his back and scar were beautiful from before, but with the paint slabbed on and creating this picture, Michelangelo would roll in his grave filled with jealousy if he got a load of my gorgeous boyfriend’s back. 

 

“I think it’s done, Lance.” I caught his bronze face staring in admiration into mine, both our smiles widening the more we stared at each other. We needed, no, we had to break our gazes before the couch turned into an easel and Lance’s masterpiece would be ruined. 

 

My hands found themselves firmly pressed on each of Lance’s flushed cheeks, and I leaned down to brush a gentle kiss on his lips. “Now, I need to hear your story.” 


	61. Loyalty

Lance furrowed his brows. “First, I need to know...why my back? Like why did you want to paint on my scar as your submission for your dream college. I’m sure you could have found or painted something even better than...m-my back…” Confusion was present on his face, and I felt like running to the pet store to buy him all the puppies and kittens I could find. Kosmo would have to suffice, but his fur could get on to the wet paint, so I reevaluated that plan.

 

“We need more color in this graying world, Lance. And to me, you brighten my day with your amazing sea green eyes, your dazzling chestnut colored hair, and your soft caramel colored skin..your back.” I swallowed, “To me, Lance. You are the center sun of my life. And with this painting...I was hoping that you would think that the colors I paint on you, the portrait I created once you see it, that you would think of it as my way of being the center to your life.” My hands were shaking, still holding the paintbrush I used on Lance when I did the finishing touches. 

 

It was obvious to see how my boyfriend’s face went from strained, to melting into a summer puddle of ice cream on a hot day. He stood up quickly, trying to figure out how he can take a quick glance at the portrait I painted onto his defined back. “Lance! Sit back down, right this instant. We don’t have much time until my dads are back with Ruby from the birthday party.” 

 

“What? They’re five year olds, they party hard, I tell you…” Lance joked back, listening to my command and sitting himself back down on the coffee table. The paints needed to dry on his back before I could take a picture with Adam’s expensive DSLR camera. My submission had to be a clear and seen in high definition. Since I decided to paint on a living, breathing organism of a dumb-witted, but overtly handsome boyfriend, I couldn’t unfortunately send him in the mail to the submissions board. Although, I’m positive if they got a good look at my boyfriend, they would have to accept my entry and present me with the scholarship on the spot. Well, until he would have decided to open his musical mouth filled with any kinds of hidden gems, both good and very, very bad ones. 

 

In all seriousness, I started smoothing his thigh, feeling my own hand shaking while it ran up and down his thigh. A large, tan hand landed on top of mine, causing the panic in my heart to calm its rapid beating. “Keith…” Lance opens his mouth, a soft voice reaching my ears. 

 

Man, what did I ever do to become this lucky? 

 

“Listen...about my scar- uh- before I jump the gun and tell you the story behind it. Can I see what you painted? I kinda wanna know what image you interpret my perfect self.” The dip between his thumb and index finger found hold of his pointy chin, a smug ass face washing over him. 

 

I slapped his shoulder, a quick chuckle leaving me. God, he couldn’t get any more adorable than this, could he? We finally lock gazes, those fluttering green specks as a part of his ocean sending ripples of thrills to my spine lighting up the whole house for me. “Sure. Lemme just grab Adam’s camera and I’ll take a picture or two of the painting.” I smiled, thinking to myself that I’ll easily take a million photos before even thinking twice about it. This boy was so gorgeous, modelling would fit him a whole lot better than music, but hey, I got to keep him all to myself so I’m not going to complain. 

 

When I found Adam’s DSLR, a cherry red Canon, one I have been dreaming of purchasing myself when I got enough money for it, I caught Lance from the living room opening wearing a distraught look. His hands were clasped tightly together, his teeth grazing his lower lip almost like he was dreading something. 

 

“Found the camera!” I shouted at him happily, hoping the distraughtness I saw on him was just a fluke and he was only thinking about something that made him make that face. 

 

“Great, make me look good, babe!” Lance’s smile came back, and the whole world was spinning at its regular pace again. 

 

Before clicking a few hundred photos, I leaned in, close to my boyfriend’s face, trying to see if there was any hint of sadness protruding from him. If he was sad, he knows that he can talk to me, about anything. I want to be there for him, in sickness and in health - yeah that sounded way too matrimony, but hey, I love the dingus till my heart decides to explode outside of my chest, okay. 

 

“Keith?” Lance quirked a single, perfectly arched brow. I noticed when my dark eyes slid down to his jeans, that his hands were back to that nervous rubbing. Something was totally up with him. 

 

We share another kiss, letting it linger this time. Tenderly, I press my lips even harder against his letting him know that I’m here for him no matter what tragedies he’s gone through. He knows he can always open up to me. I might be the one person in his life to share the same traumas as him. We can save each other. He saved me, and I’m here, ready to save him, if he’ll let me. 

 

As we release, my tongue gliding gently out of his mouth. Our smiles buzz into our chests, blooming forth the greens of the vines painted onto his back. “Keep your back straight. Shoulders wide. Yes, there. Perfect.” I click the first photo, staring fondly into the viewfinder at the photo I took. 

 

Even looking at a photo of him makes me quake. He’s so gorgeous, and this is only a photo of his back! Damn, think about the times we took selfies together; the silly ones where he plants a sloppy, wet kiss on my cheek; on my scar; healing it, healing me. 

 

Softness finds my features as I take a couple more photos in different angles to truly get the right photo I want to send as my submission. Lance cranes his neck suddenly as I press down on the button, and it’s the photo I want to send in. 

 

The photo revealed Lance’s face staring down at his back, eyes lidded closed, the balls on his cheeks dusted a faint pink tone, his peachy lips glowing by the sun’s dipping orange hue. Then, there was the matter of his back, the scars that traced along his shoulder blades, and fireworked it’s lines downwards his spine turned into a beautiful canvas filled with green vines and petals for the flowers I filled inside the white overlapping the inside of the lines that made out his scar. 

 

Roses for the red paint; representing love. Sunflowers for yellow; representing his shine on the world. Forget-me-nots for blue; representing the ocean in his eyes, which dragged me in to his life. And lastly, darkened, mysterious black calla lilies for all the travesties he’s been through during his 17 almost 18 years of life. And I was here to paint it all on his back, to retell the story of his life, the story that probably haunted him, like my story haunted me for every single second ticking by. 

 

Speechless, pretty much at a loss for words when I stared at the real thing in front of me, I hear Lance humming to bring me back to the living room. His blue eyes glowed even brighter now as the continued setting sun shined through the curtains, warming up my cheeks. “Well? Can I have a look too, mullethead?” He let out a quick nasally snicker, leaning forwards with his hands on the table to look at the photo I took of him staring down at his back. 

 

When I tipped my head up to gaze at Lance studying the photo, I noticed three things: One: How his lips went from curious to happy in the span of a single second. Two: How his blue, blue eyes never blinked once while the pools of space in pupils blew up into a galaxy of hidden treasures. And three: That there were tears running down his face. 

 

“Hey. Why are you crying? Does it look that bad?” I choked out a sobbing laugh, crying now that I caught his tear streaked face. 

 

He waves a hand in front of my face, using his other hand to hide his crying state. “No! Nononono, I love it, Keith. Wow, _te amo mi amor._ It’s perfect. I’m, ugh- I’m in awe at your talent, babe.” His body goes rigid, shaking up a hurricane on the coffee table. 

 

Immediately, I loop my arms around his neck, wondering what was going on in his head. That beautiful, stubborn, lovely, head of his. “Hey, hey...Lance. Look at me.” I grab his chin, tilting it up so that he can look at me in the eyes. 

 

Smiling at him, I pull the sleeve of my red sweater over my hand and wipe away those crocodile tears. Ruby would have a run for her money if she knew Lance made bigger crocodile tears than her. “Can you tell me why you’re a sobbing mess? Is it the story you’re going to tell me? Because I can take it. You know about my past- er- some of it at least….I’m here to listen. We can use this share our traumas, babe. There’s nothing, absolutely nothing to be afraid of. We all have our demons inside us. And this thing with your parents. We’re going to figure that out. They can’t disown you forever, they love you too much to do that. You’re the best person, Lance. I have no idea how I was able to snag you into my life, but I am beyond grateful that you are a part of it. Know that…” My sleeve pretty much got all the fallen tears, but now new ones were forming. 

 

“Oh my gosh darnit, mullethead. Don’t go around saying amazing words like that at me, you know how much of a sap I am...A tragic romantic, that’s what I am. But…” He snorts in a lot of mucus from his nostrils. Gross. And rests his head on my shoulder, his heavy breathing leveling to an even breath. 

 

“I-I’m just scared you’re not going to see me the same when I tell you the real truth behind my scar, Keith. Like I’m not worthy enough to share this connection you think we have.” Lance started fidgeting with his hands, taking a long swallow, his adam’s apple wobbling before he continues. 

 

He had me intrigued to be quite honest. What made him think it was just because of his scar that made this connection between us. Sure, we haven't known each other closer to a year, but the history between us during this past year has been all the reason to have a connection, not because we both share scars. I can in all honestly say that, sure, him having a scar too was a bonus and helped me feel better about myself, but him talking about his scar. That’s what I want from him, to help me too man up and share my story. He was so brave when he came out to his parents, and also when he agreed to sing at the talent show coming up soon. 

 

So this, this is no reason to cry about. No matter how tragic, or how comical the story is, I will love him as much as I always have. Even more so. “Lance...I don’t care if the story doesn’t make us have a connection...I-oh, I’m so dumb. I must have implied that, huh? I only assumed you has a tragic backstory because I so selfishly thought about my past. I’m so sorry I made you feel that way. If the cause of your scar is from a tragic car accident or even being dum to get hit by a firework on the 4th of July, I’ll be here for you no matter what. I’ll write down exactly what needs to be written down for my submission, and I don’t care if I don’t get the scholarship.” I kiss him again, because I can’t get enough of him, “ All I care about is you, and only you. And my dads and Ruby, and Hunk and Pidge, but you get the message.” We both end up cracking up. 

 

It was so hot in the living room, we moved to the kitchen. I cracked the sliding door open to let the wind in, the backyard making its view lighting up from the stars reflecting down on the red and blue swing set Adam and Shiro bought for me when I was younger. 

 

The painting on Lance’s back was washed away, gone, only for the memory of the real thing to reside within our hearts’ album of love. Lance had slung over his black hoodie, nursing a mug of hot tea with a twist of lemon and lots of sugar. A slight tug at his lips pulled to the side, “It’s exactly what you mentioned, babe.” 

 

“What is?” 

 

“The cause of my scar.” 


	62. Scars

Lance sighs, taking a sip of his piping hot tea. A wince follows his face when the warmth stings his tongue, “Fuckin’ hot! No, but..you’re probably expecting a tragic story now. Me bursting out into tears again at how awful it was when it happened to me. I can tell you, the only awful thing about me getting my scar is how much it fucking hurt. The pain...God, it burned up so much of the skin on my back. Had I been more careful and not a punk ass 14 year old thinking he could take on the whole world, this scar would never have been here.” 

 

I rubbed his back, thinking back to the painting that used to be there only a mere ten minutes ago. Still, the image will always be a part of us. That will be our connection, I smile to myself, “Go on. Were you a stupid punk who lit a firework and it hit you straight in the back?” 

 

“Damn, I’m sorry I can’t give you a better story to retell. You so want to relate with me, I can see it on your face, kitten. Even during the times we were in the showers after P.E. Your eyes were always tracing the white, faded lines along my back, searching, wondering, hoping maybe...” Lance smiled, rubbing his hand with mine, entwined together like a french braid, “But, you’re right. You’re absolutely right. You got it on the first try, ten points to Gryffindor!” Lance threw a half-hearted victorious fist in the air, smiling crookedly at my snickering. 

 

“What makes you think we’re housed in Gryffindor?” I asked him, feeling a wet sheen coat the tops of my eyes. 

 

“Your bravery of course, kitten.” Lance stated, and here comes the waterworks. “Keith!?” Are you okay? I’m sorry, oh man, why the hell do we cry so much? We’re such pussies. Pidge would have a field day if she caught us like this.” 

 

I pressed the pads of my fingertips across my eyes to wipe away the sudden leakage, implying Lance to go on with a quick nod. “Right. So, I was a stupid teen back during freshman year. It was the 4th of July, and I had just come back from a trip at my Abuela and Abuelo, and I bought illegal fireworks. Man, you shoulda seen my face when we passed security and they didn’t bat a lash at me when I knew my suitcase was chalk full of fireworks, felt like a true criminal, the punks at school don’t who they’re messin’ with.” Lance slammed a palm on the table, some tea spilling out of his mug. 

 

Blinking the time on the microwave in red, I registered that it had gone almost three hours since the others left, they might be back in an hour or so. “So, what happened? Did you just light one up and made a run for it?” I urged him to keep going, this was getting good. It was lightening the mood that had shifted in me a few moments ago. 

 

Faded brown stars glittered across his face, when all I wanted to focus on in that moment were the freckles made from the afternoon sun yesterday when we took a stroll down the shoreline, Lance’s second favorite place next to the campsite. We cuddled together on a hill, looking out at the ocean, talking about what lies beneath the depths of the hidden darkness that no one dared to explore. It was perfect, but sitting this right here, listening to my dingbat of a boyfriend, was kind of perfect too. 

 

“My stupid sister, Ronnie, she dared me I couldn’t light a firework on my own without using any protection or pin the stick into the ground. When I lit it, I dropped it like the coward I am running away screaming, and  _ kazaam,  _ it striked me right in the back, yay. Luckily the damage wasn’t that severe. A trip to the emergency room, some fatal threats from my mamá and everything was peachy-keen. Saints, we were so dumb, 14 year old me was such an ass…” He groaned all embarrassed, his cheeks now painted with a red tint. 

 

“And 17 year old you isn’t?” I teased, searching for that glimmer of mischievousness inside those prodigious blue eyes. 

 

“Shut up, kitten. I’m almost 18, too. Practically an adult.” He blew a raspberry on my cheek, then kept his soft lips planted on it, the one with the scar. I could feel the press of his lips lingering, his hand grasping into my black hair, making the bun I made tumble out, splaying the longer strands all over my shoulders. 

 

After all this time, the bravery Lance was talking about surged within me. I landed my own gloved hand on top of the one Lance was using to caress my cheek when his lips pulled away. Warmth bloomed from the tips of his fingers, spreading in a descending motion from the pointy tip of my scar, all the way down to the cavity of my locked away, almost fixed heart. 

 

“My mother…” I take a sharp breath in through my nose, exhaling slowing through my mouth, keeping Lance’s hand on my cheek, forcing myself to let it all out. Finally, after all this time. It comes out. 

 

“She-” I choked on an unexpected sob. 

 

“Keith…” Lance cradles his arms around me now, my face resting on his shoulder, “...she gave me this scar.” That warmth I felt on my cheek turned into a burning flame, threatening to rip more of the skin off, like there was a vase ready to crash down to the floor, preparing a piece of shattered ceramic glass to cut across my cheek. 

 

“You’re shaking...babe. You don’t have to-”

 

“No! I want to. I want you to know my story, Lance. It’s vital you know this. I trust you, with all of my being, I trust you. I-” My jaw clenched, anger bubbling up in my throat for stopping me from saying those words. They were meant for a different occasion, not one full of sorrow and sadness. He deserved those words when we both were happy, and know we have a clean future in front of us. 

 

“Before you have to know why she did this-” I traced the line that defines my scar, holding my head up high.  _ Bravery.  _ Lance said I was brave, so I’ll show him bravery. To myself, and to her, once and for all. 

 

“You have to know about the fire.” A rush of bile finds my throat when all of the memories from that day folds into my mind like an album filled with family pictures. My hand catches my forehead to stop the dizzying sensation swirling along in my stomach, causing my head to have a migraine. 

 

Lance shot out of the kitchen stool, the water from the faucet running a current. In front of me, a glass of water was being handed to me. Without even thinking, my body reacts on its own, grabbing the glass and downing all its contents. I didn’t even wipe the dripping water from my chin as I went on, “You have to know, Lance. My mother loved my father very much. She adored him. You see how much Adam loves Shiro, now multiply that times a million. He was her whole entire world. No, her universe. Then I-” My teeth started chattering. Why was this so difficult? It’s Lance, he needs to know. I can’t have these painful memories stored away anymore. They need to be released. Purified. 

 

Understanding washes over Lance’s face as he’s wiping away the overflowing flood running down my face. Breathing was still difficult. I could still picture that day like it was yesterday, “I killed my father, Lance.” I forced out, breaking down completely into my arms on the table. 

Quiet lingers in the air. I’m sure Lance doesn’t know what to say or do after that statement. But, there isn’t much to do. I needed to go on, “Had I not played with his favorite zippo lighter that day, and had the curtain not caught on fire...he..” A hitch escaped my throat, my heart vaulting my throat still making it so hard to breathe, “Had the smoke not reached his lungs that fast. Had he not been trapped in his office.” I was in Lance’s arms, shaking like crazy, crying silent choked up tears, wishing it would all just go away, but I wasn’t done. 

 

“It was a nightmare...the fire was building up so fast. The house was already falling apart when I regained consciousness and heard Shiro barged into my house to save us. All my mind lets me remember from that point on was being held in Shiro’s arms, and my father’s voice screaming from behind the door to his office, the door that was closed by a fallen beam….trapping him...His screams...they weren’t pleads to be rescued...but to save me. And we left him for the firemen to make it on time and axe through the door and pull him out of the house…” My body was being rocked by Lance now, soothing sounds coming from him while he pats my face, smooths my hair, pushing my thick bangs away from my sweaty, tear stained face. 

 

I continue, “The firefighters, they saved him but he had consumed too much smoke that his lungs collapsed on the ride to the hospital. He was dead before they laid him on a bed to rest….my mother-” The shaking continues, this was where the nightmares kick in tenfold. 

 

“She was a broken mess after the funeral. Quickly after it all happened, and we laid my father to his peaceful slumber, she started drinking. Alot. Refused to look at me because I was the spitting image of my father...except for my eyes, those belong to her. She would break down and cry her eyes out whenever she took only a single glance at me.” I felt my nostrils flare in agony at the memory of how she looked at me back then, the last time I saw her..”We lived at the Shirogane's for the first few months after it all happened. My mother had to take time off work to build her strength back mentally, so she would roam the house, sulking, feeling sorry for herself...Shiro was a senior by then, dating Adam, it was before he told his parents he was bisexual. I was home early from school one day, hanging out in the living room alone with my mother. Everyone was either at work or at school. So while I was playing with my toys, I knocked over a vase…” 

 

The sound of its crash still lingered in my brain, causing me to convulse at times if I ever heard the same noise making my ears bleed. “My mother snapped at that point. She wasn’t thinking at the time, screaming and yelling at my face how it was all my fault, his death. How I was so stupid and careless playing with his lighter when I knew full well that it could start a fire. How my father was a fireman, and how ironic it all was that he never survived the one thing he was destined to keep us all safe from. And I couldn’t save him. She stank from all the alcohol consumption from that day, and when she caught hold of a long, shard of the broken vase. Her slender hands gripped one of them tightly, staring me directly in my eyes, her eyes, then slashed away. Once. Only once, because then she had realized what she had done, the shard dropping with a clang on the wooden floor. I remember it like it was yesterday, Lance…” 

 

My voice was shifted into normality. The quiver gone. The stuttering, the insecurity and frightfulness, all gone. Cured? No, never. But better? Yes, lastingly so. 

 

“After I got cut, my mother fell to her knees apologizing over and over again, blaming it on the alcohol, on the death of my father, on our unlucky circumstances. The Shirogane’s had come into the door finding my mother on her knees, finding my shocked state, holding a hand to my bloody cheek. Everything from there is blur. Shiro coming home a week after they threw my mother out of the house, explaining to child protective services that she laid a finger on me. Refusing me to see her again until after court, but that was when Shiro decided to come out and explain that he’s living with his boyfriend Adam and was taking me with him. Then there was all the court business. I was only seven at the time, not really grasping what was happening around me. I just knew one thing. I didn’t want to be sad anymore. I just wanted a home, and in all reality, I wanted my father back from the dead, and my mother back to normal-” My mind went blank, eyelids drooping suddenly into a state of shock. 

 

And before I knew it, I collapsed out cold into Lance’s arms. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's all I have pre-written...hopefully, I have inspiration to write more soon. Hope you enjoyed this chapter and plan to keep on reading despite the lack of content coming.


	63. Reality

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally foud some motivation to continue this fic. I hope I'm able to write a couple more chapters this week/weekend. 
> 
> This chapter is kinda weird, but in some way I always want to incorporate the alternate universe trope in my stories, and this chapter really came on a whim. Still hope you like it. 
> 
> You can always view it as a chapter where I highlight a lot of the most important things that's happened in the fic so far. Sort of like an inbetween chapter before we go back to regular scheduling again, haha. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy it, and thank you all who are still reading this mammoth. I have so much more to come.

 

Everything around me was foggy, I could hardly even make out the lines that traced out my body, all I could see were specks made out of white, brighter than starlight. Have I died? Did I reach the end of the tunnel or something? Disintegrated into some kind of weird after-life dust? There was no explaining my state of mind at the moment, but all I had thought about in that moment of blank space, was Lance. His face, those eyes that always entranced me and the slope of his long, perfect nose, how it was splattered with bronze stars, lighting up a path for me to walk on and help me find a way out of this scary tunnel made out of fuzz and dust. 

 

“Keith!? Keith, can you hear me? We need a location on the last Galra Cruiser...Keith can you hear me!?” The voice sounded so familiar, low and kind of husky, but smooth, so smooth, like touching perfect, blemished-free skin, almost like a certain skin-routine a doofus, obnoxious boyfriend always nagged on me about. _Lance._

 

Once again, I heard his voice. Loud and boisterous, finally waking me out of this quiet, darkened space I’ve apparently been sucked into. This void. “Keith!!?” 

 

Everything faded away, and my mind cleared, helping me see. I could finally see everything around me as my thick black brows furrowed rashly taking in the first thing my dark eyes landed on, and yeah, it was my hands, but my fingerless gloves were gone. Desperation latched on to me. Fuck, Lance bought me those gloves, they mean the world to me, if they’re gone, then, I don’t know what I’ll do...I’ve sort of seen them as this kind of symbol. A symbol for our hating each other at the beginning of it all, his obligation to drive me home every day after school saving me the embarrassment of carpooling with my principal of a father, not that I mind, but I got him now. Then there was our moment, our very first moment after he got that 20/20 on the mock test I challenged him to complete, which he did, so well too on. I was proud of him, despite my hating on him at the time, I was so, so proud. That he tried, that he wanted to try, for me, for the two of us to go shopping, together. Which lastly, and preemptively, wounded up with us having a little staring moment, the start of it all and me being gifted the gloves I promised Lance I would never take off. Well, except for showering and when the two of us do...uhm, nothing to get into further detail there, but you get the picture. 

 

Warmth swirled around in my belly when the memory of Lance buying me those gloves struck me, distracting me from my current state of panic still staring at my now whole-gloved hands. What the hell am I wearing!? 

 

I lifted my hands to my face, taking in the black material that was covering all of my fingers, sliding my gaze along the rest of the material noticing how it was covering the rest of my body, too. The soft black material was fitted perfectly on my whole body, but also, and shockingly to my perspective, I was weirdly covered in these hard white and red plates of, dare I say it out loud, “Am I wearing armor!?” I screeched, a wave of surprise overcoming my face and voice. 

 

“Keith! Quiznackin' time you responded, can you locate it!?” Lance hollered back, his smooth voice reaching my ears calming my rapid heartbeat, but, what the hell was going on?

 

Finally taking in my surroundings past my hands and what I was wearing, I noticed I was sitting in some kind of airplane cockpit. There was a large half-moon shaped board in front of me, and it was filled with buttons and doodads, gadgets and a steering wheel. What in all the motherload? Did Lance hit me in the temple with the frisbee again? I’m dreaming right now, right? 

 

“Keith! Seriously, mullet! You gotta answer me, we don’t have time for stalling!!”

 

“Paladins! What is going on!? The Cruiser is getting away, Lotor is making a run for it with the teleduv! Keith, Lonce? We need you two, right now!” Fuck, was that Miss Allura’s voice? 

 

Okay, now I’m really dreaming, what the flaming hell was actually going on? Paladins? Aren’t they like, the guardians of the galaxy? Not that I didn’t mind picturing Lance as Star Lord or anything, but this was taking the mother freakin' cake, and, I couldn't seem to wake up from it all. 

 

I swallowed, a hard lump of spit squeezing its way down my throat. “Okay, so this is really happening…” I tried to hype myself up, not really grasping the function of any of the controls in front of me, or, well, anything at all, I've turned into a blubbering mess. I wanted to wake up, or be transported back home laying down on Lance’s lap on the couch watching our favorite movies while munching on popcorn and m&ms, kissing, run my fingers through his chestnut brown locks, forgetting that the world exists-

 

_BANG_

 

“What the hell was that!!?” I screamed into the open cockpit, hoping beyond all that is miraculously happening that someone can hear me. 

 

Answering my prayers, a see-through screen lit up in front of me, and my breathing became a bare minimum, “Lance..” I breathed out with relief, catching his beautiful, handsome face, and that wicked grin, uh, nowhere to be seen unfortunately as it had been replaced by an angered frown, the corners of his lips dragged all the way down. 

 

“What in the quiznack is going on with you!? You’re the leader, so crackin' act like it, mullet!” Lance whipped out at me, his usually tan face, but now burning a furious red, was boreing itself into the essence of my soul. Holy shit, what does he mean I’m the leader, “The leader of what!?” I forced out, because none of us would get anywhere unless I was up to date on this whole cockpit, this whole white and red; or in Lance’s case, white and blue, armor situation. 

 

My gaze was flung away from Lance’s angered state, since well, no one, not even his boyfriend, wanted to deal with that, and I noticed another new detail to this weird ass dream I know for a fact that I was having. 

 

“Oh shit, this is space!?” I addressed, wincing at Lance's groaning, who was peeling a hand down his gorgeous face. 

 

“Keith were you hit with something, did it give you amnesia or-?” 

 

Still working on figuring that out myself, I thought, cocking a brow at Lance, making a look that pleaded for him to just give me the details now, before we all fucking die. In space. Oh shit, I was going to die in space, and no one’s going to be able to find me here. In a black, never ending void filled with gas that looked like stars. 

 

Lance cleared his throat, then screamed as his screen glitched a couple times, “Holy crow! Princess, I’ve located the Galra Cruiser and Lotor’s on its tail! Pidge, Hunk, get to it. I need to deal with a misbegotten mullethead for two minutes!” 

 

“Well, hurry it up, we really don’t have time for this.” Pidge clambered in, her face all scared and worried, but she looked so, to my surprise, again yes, so mature. 

 

A new groan slapped me in the face. But the face that shot up on a new screen eased me, “I’m so hungry, can we please stop these bad guys before I die from starvation!” Hunk desperately said through a pile of groans and his stomach playing a symphony of hunger. 

 

“Keith. Look at me.” Lance said in a strict manner, one that I’ve honestly never known him long enough to use, except for that time we fought outside the school. I craned my neck, away from the window showcasing a terrifying curtain of endless black, finding a soothing ocean mixed with bright blue and green. 

 

“I’m looking, Lance.” I smiled easily. Even if this was a dream, a terrifying one; lassoing my stare on Lance’s calmed the spinning tornado in my gut, “You look good, by the way.” I cut out unwillingly. Seriously, when the dingus looked so good, my body and brain couldn't help it.

 

Lance’s mouth slackened open, falling slightly ajared, his thin perfect brows blasted away into the unknown territories of space. “Uh-I-I-” He cleared his throat, throwing a wicked grin on his face, that signature one, the one I loved, and I swear to God my body started melting at the sight, “Lance.” I grabbed his attention, “Right! Don’t throw things like that in my face, mullethead. Remember, we hate each other.” 

 

“Do we now?” I teased, a low snicker escaped me, noticing a tinge of heat warming Lance’s cheeks. 

 

“Can it, will ya! We need to fight this cruiser, we can discuss matters about us _after_ we survive. Kay?” 

 

The question hanging in the air was settling into me, asking me if I was still even going to be here to listen in on _that_ discussion. I’m pretty sure this Keith and Lance still had a 500 page space adventure novel with a slow-burn romance to get through before anyone was throwing hands at each other, or mouths. Pretty sure it’s gonna be mouths. 

 

I made a soft smile, sensing he was going to fly out with his usual talkative speeches that always got me going. “Yeah, sure. Of course.”  

 

It was odd. I was sure I would stay in this state of panic, wondering why I was thrown into this awesome space adventure life, wearing this cool armor, being told that I’m the leader. But a calmness washed over me, since I never thought I would become a leader of anything. I was just the school’s golden boy, the principal’s kid whom everyone thought I got good grades because the teachers liked me. 

 

All that had changed, though. Drastically too, after these past four and half months. I almost became a leader at my school being forced into the election against Lotor, whom we all hated at one point, but, because of Lance’s annoying skill at interfering with everything that has my life written into it, we’ve become friends. Lotor Von freakin Gal is my friend, I never thought I’d see the light of day when I could say that with a straight face and a smile spread across my lips. But we are, and all because of that doofus.  

 

Which, to my utterly amazing perception skills, I’ve noticed he’s the enemy here, something that, hopefully, could change. “Keith.” Lance’s voice grabbed me now, pulling me away from my speedy walk-through of past memories from all that has sort of happened so far since I met the obnoxious dingbat. 

 

“You’re the leader. Of Voltron. You need to guide us, the other paladins. Me, Pidge, Hunk, Allura- we’re all counting on you. We trust you, a million percent.” Lance said calmly, his smile infecting me, causing my toes to curl in pleasure. 

 

“Wait did you say Voltron!?” My voice hitched loudly at the sentiment. Voltron? Like our campaign name, that Voltron? This was a dream-

 

And if I’m dreaming, then that means. _It’s gone._  

 

A new memory flowed into me, but was wiped away when an new odd curtain of blackness took over my mind again. I've turned into that fuzzy, dusting nonsensical material, almost like I’m a ghost. Like I’m astral projecting or something. Way to go all zen in a moment like this, I thought thinking long and hard on how I was going to get away from this dream. It seemed like I’ve been sucked into a heavy sleep, and I couldn't get out until my final trial was passed. 

 

But, what’s the trial and why was I the main attraction? 

 

My body started hovering outside the Keith I was inside, and I stared down at my hands. I could see my fingers again, half naked, the rest of my hand hugged by warm, black leather. Still, and oddly, yet again, I was glowing. A weird vibrant, thrumming red color. The Keith standing in front of me started shaking his head aimlessly, giving the Lance on the screen an odd look. 

 

“What the quiznack are you staring at, Lance! Go! The signal on my locator is showing me where the Galra cruiser is heading, was Lotor with it? Lance?” 

 

The Keith in front of me. The leader of Voltron had this different aura than me. One I wished I knew how to maintain, been strong enough to project in my real life. 

 

He looked tall, hair longer than mine, his scar on his cheek also longer, tracing way past his neck. His demeanor was opposite to mine, a fierce, piercing look covering his- my - features, like he could scare off a whole league of orcs ready to maul down Middle Earth. Striking, this Keith, a Keith I wouldn’t mind living up to, walk into his footsteps. To truly prove my worth; my worth to Shiro, to Adam, Ruby, my friends and teachers, Lance and most of all, my mother. 

 

I made a brief glance at Lance in the screen, taking in Keith’s orders. Lance made a relieved smile on the screen, the green flecks in his eyes wandering about in his irises like brand new stars, “Good to have you back...Leader.” 

 

And I see it, the red tone rising on this stoic, fearless Keith. He smiled back at Lance, almost like a newfound wave of courage jolted him, waking him up from some kind of temporary trance and realized something new about himself. He let out a nasally breath, piercing a strict gaze at Lance, “Let’s form Voltron!” 

 

A jolt pulsed throughout my whole body, even in my state of projection I could feel every single cell in my body make one long throb- 

 

_Thump._

 

I keep my eyes shut, trying to figure out if I’ve made it back home. Finally, I remembered what happened before I warped into that middle of space battle in my counterpart’s body. Real or not real, it was pretty sweet and I couldn’t wait to tell Lance all about it. 

 

Speaking of Lance, I could feel a hand smoothing in my hair. Dragging long, delicate fingers back and forth on my scalp, calming me, bringing me back to my reality. Aromas of a campfire and spearmint bubblegum hit my nose, heightening my senses, realizing I’m resting on top of my boyfriend’s lap. 

 

I beat it. The nightmare was gone. Disappeared, into thin air. 

 

What I thought when I blacked out, was going to be the sight of my usual nightmare.Witnessing the dangers I caused, his screams, pleads to Shiro to help me, save me. Not himself. But this time, my nightmare never came. Sure, the nightmare only returned from time to time, except I was so sure, after pouring my tortured heart out about my past to Lance, that the nightmare would make its presence. That it would tap on my brain to make fun of me, letting me know that I didn’t beat it. How I never overcame that demon. 

 

But that little space adventure. It was all a dream. At least, I thought it was. 

 

Remembering how I never was able to fully experience a real dream, I knew deep within the marrow of my bones, that my nightmare was finally wiped away, proving to myself that I could overcome it, beat it to the ground. So, if this little space adventure proved as a full on dream, then I knew, I knew the nightmare, that fucking demon was chewed up and spat into the void, gone forever. Hopefully. 

 

Knowing that the nightmare might never haunt me again, I take it. One hurdle's been leaped, now for the next. Her. 

 

“Hey, Lance. Keith asleep?” I heard Adam’s voice near the sofa, but I decided against opening my eyes just yet, working on my breathing, making it look believable that I was still fast sleep. 

 

Sure, I could eavesdrop a little. I think I earned knowing what my family says behind my back, like Adam and Lance's little conversations about me at school, I deserved to know what they say about me. Hopefully, all good things. They do know how hard I worked on being the son I think they deserved, well, since they’re the best parents in the world. Keeping my breathing at a steady pace was easy, it was keeping my heartbeat at a normal rhythm, without anyone noticing the hard ass thumping coming out of my chest once I started listening in on the conversation. 

 

Lance made a shushing noise, and I could hear more footsteps echoing through the living room. They definitely belonged to Shiro. My heart started upping its pace. Collecting my memories from the weird space dream, reality thingy, because hello, I’m pretty sure other dimensions exist and that dream was too real to only be a figmentation made from my mind. 

 

But yeah, they never mentioned Shiro in that reality, and I wondered, was he someone important to me too over there? Like I am for him here. No matter what dimension I found myself in the next time I black-out, I will always think that Shiro will be some kind of father figure for me. And if that Keith, the leader, if he’s the way he is in that dimension, then I want to think it’s because of Shiro. 

 

As realization dawned on me, about Shiro being the most important figure in my life, besides Lance of course and Adam, tears were welling up in the corner of my closed eyes. Shit, I need to keep back the sobbing before they’re on to me. 

 

That’s when I hear it. Lance pouring out all the details about how I finally opened up about my trauma. How I lit my old house on fire by accident, how the beams that fell down from the roof of the house blocked and barricaded my father, making it too late for him to survive when the firemen finally rescued him. How I blamed myself for his death, and how my mother blamed me for his death, resulting in her gripping the sharp broken piece of a vase and slashing it across my face in a full fit of tears and anger. 

 

“He told you. Keith?” Adam asked, his tone one of happiness. He knew how much I’ve been struggling with the memories, and the fear of sharp objects, and knowing that I finally jumped that hurdle, though with a couple minor setbacks, like me blacking out, he sounded proud. 

 

Shiro made a sobbing noise, hitching. “Our boy. He did it. He finally overcame that fear. Let’s hope his nightmare makes a one way flight.” He continued on hitching, his throat making cracked sounds like it’s being filled up with tears. 

 

“Thank you, Cap, Daddy Principal-” Lance cleared his throat, almost like something was vaulted in his throat too, “For seeing me as someone good enough to date your son. I- really _really_ care for him.” Holding back on that word, huh? Dang, I was hoping it would finally slip out. He’s good. 

 

I’m sure Adam was calming his husband down, resting a hand on Lance’s shoulder. His principal status flowing into him. “ _Thank you_ , Lance. We wouldn’t want anybody else for our son, you’re the best thing that’s happened to him. We can all see how much he loves you, and how much you _love_ him. You both need each other, through thick and thin. Again, thank you for seeing Keith and being there for him.” 

 

And that did it. I’m shaking, the tears building up in the corner of my eyes trickling slowly down my face. “Keith? Babe? You awake?” Lance landed a warm hand on my face, cupping my cheek as I roll over to meet those blue, blue eyes. They say heaven is a place on Earth, well, think again. 

 

“Welcome back to Earth, mullet.” Lance joked, using the nickname I hated, but loved, and actually using that expression after the dream I’ve had. 

 

Red rimmed and dry, I rubbed my eyes, trying to refocus on my surroundings. I'm back in the living room, resting safely on top of Lance’s lap, and Adam and Shiro sitting on the far end of the couch. Adam’s hand is gripping my shin, squeezing it to pull my gaze up to him. We share a smile. The my gaze slides to Shiro, and I break down. 

 

I find myself flinging into Shiro’s arms, crying out a hurricane ten times bigger than Katrina and cry and cry and cry, thanking him for saving me, for taking care of me, for letting me a part of his family. Him, Adam and Ruby. 

 

And now Lance, when I felt his arms loop around my back, and Adam looping his and Shiro still keeping me in his embrace. 

 

“Hey, what about me!?” Ruby made a big, fat pout with her lower lip, reaching her little arms up at our huddle of embraces. 

 

“Get in here, monkey!” Lance pulled her up, her little hands ruffling my hair. 

 

She nuzzled into it, a cute bubbled high frequent of a laugh running out of her throat before she made me cry again when she said,  “I wuv you, Keef.”

 

All of the most important people in my life surrounding me, accepting me for who I am. And for once in my life, I felt calm. Safe. Ready to become the fearless leader I wanted to be.


	64. Invite

The sound of a guitar thrumming slid into my ears, sending a chain of shivers down my spine. We had a week left of practice before the talent show, and Lance, ugh, Lance was being a nightmare per usual. 

 

“Lance! Come on, you’re the vocals of our band, we need you to get singing, we have less than a week left before the show!” I gripped his shoulders tensely while he laid splayed out on the garage floor all dramatically with the top of his hand pushed against his forehead. 

 

It’s been a week since I broke down and told Lance everything. We’ve been good this past week, or, our relationship has been good. He’s still living with us because his parents are just as stubborn as the tree I call my boyfriend, guess that proves they’re related. I was also able to send in my submission for my dream college, spending endless and tired nights trying so hard to write my essay, but in the end, I wrote it, and I think I might get in. All fingers and toes crossed just in case. 

 

The air outside was still crisp and clouding whenever we breathed out the air while we stood in the garage with our band.We were pretty lucky having friends who grew up playing instruments. I had no instrumental talent, unfortunately. But I do remember wishing I could play the piano. The memory of pointing at a brand new, slick black piano covered my vision, a large, wide smile tracing my face and her face flashing past my vision. I blinked, staring over at our bandmates with a wary grin so that the others couldn’t lead on to the hurdles I still needed to accomplish, but one big one was enough for now. We had Pidge on bass, Hunk on electric guitar, me on backup vocals and most shockingly of all, Lotor on drums. 

 

Who the hell would have thought that Lotor, the Boss himself, would find us in the halls at school one day and ask if we were still looking for a drummer for the talent show. Not us, that’s for sure. Lance, using his own artistic skill for posters and mountains of glitter, he made these awesome fliers looking for a drummer for our band, our temporary band, we only needed people who could play instruments for the talent show, all other musical semblances would be terminated once we win said talent show. Because we’re gonna knock everyone dead. 

 

If only a certain delinquent could..“Stop being such a big baby, Lance! You said you would sing in the talent show if I sang with you, and look!” I gestured at our friends, who were more than happy to participate and help us, smiling happily at our obnoxious dingus, “They’re here to help you, Lance. I know this stage-fright fear is something hard to overcome, but hey..” 

 

I gripped his wrist, the warmth of it tingling my skin. The corner of my lip cocked at the touch as I dragged him away from the others, around the side of my house, pushing him up against the wall, pressing my lips hard to his. “Mmmf! Keith- kitten- not when our friends are right  _ there _ .” Lance sputtered, the green flecks in his eyes flying around like they’re having their own little party after being zapped by a lusting kiss by yours truly. 

 

“What? You never have a problem kissing me at school, in the library, at the arcade, in the cinema, my room, the living room-” 

 

Lance stopped my listing when his mouth devoured me whole, toppling over mine then deepening our kiss, a small moan erupting from his throat. Fuck, no time to get worked up now, not when our friends were right around the corner. Huh,  _ fine _ , the delinquent did have a fair point.

 

He released me, leaving me disoriented and flustered, blooming those plushed, peachy lips into that smile, the one that causes all the stars in the galaxy to explode. Still dazed by our heated session, I cupped his cheek allowing our gazes to meet, “Please Lance, I want everyone to hear your beautiful voice. It’s only one concert. One performance, never again after that.” 

 

“But it’s the whole fucking school! And my parents..” His voiced dialed down, a low, cracked whimper escaping him, hurt flashing in that ocean like an electric storm.

 

Staring at him with those hurt, hurt eyes, had me struck. I wanted nothing than to help him with the issue about how his parents reacted about him finally coming out as bisexual. How they, not particularly disowning him, but also not quite accepting him for who he is, how his sexual identity never really mattered to them in the sense they wanted it to matter. 

 

Sure, they were strict, and very religious, but Lance is their son, they should have accepted him for who he is, for who he chooses to love. Something inside me told me that I too had a say in this, being his boyfriends and all, the person he loves- even though he refused to throw in the towel at our competition- and if Lance trying to get his parents to accept him becomes trivial and difficult, I’ll make a stand. Soon. 

 

We stood before each other, sharing a calming smile, knowing that even in the most difficult of times, we still will always have each other. Lance leaned in again, but not to kiss me. When Lance hugged me, all I could think about in that moment was how soft and warm my body became once his fluffy, bright blue, fuzzy sweater covered my body. He even fit into my black, ripped skinny jeans, despite him being two inches taller than me. I stared down at his feet, narrowing my dark eyes at the familiar pair of shoes. “Are those my converse?” 

 

“Hey! You have my Docs, I’m obligated to steal a pair of your shoes.” Lance kissed the top of my head, flinging an arm around my waist, leading us back to the gang, his once-a-day melodramatic state finally vaporizing. 

 

“Oh, like you were obligated to drive me home every day when we hated each other?” I jutted out for the fun of it. We loved thinking back on how much we hated each other, because now, now we love each other, and it was unbelievable to think about at times. 

 

“Har-har, it snagged you me, didn’t it?” Lance winked, causing a whole army doing cartwheels in my belly. Damn his wicked ways, I’m so going to fluster the hell out of him sooner or later. 

 

Pidge thrummed her bass, catching our attention as we made it back inside the garage. “You two done sucking face? Can we get back in action, my mom’s doing this new experiment and I wanna make sure she doesn’t find out she can use Beavis and Butthead as test subjects.” Her worried look was so genuine and pure, she loved those snakes to death, which made me wonder...why? Snakes creeped me out so much. 

 

“Yeah, I’m going to Shay’s place soon, she’s wants us to try out a new recipe before Valentine’s day.” Hunk made a dreamy look. He was so smitten, it almost made me want to gag, but then I remembered how much I thought about Lance and reconsidered my potential gagging. 

 

Valentine’s day. Right. The talent show was on Valentine’s Day, this Friday, but we still had the rest of the day to celebrate, and I’ve been so fixated on this damn talent show I honestly haven’t been able to think about a present for Lance, let alone think about how we were going to celebrate it. Since it’ll be our first, I wanted it to be perfect, wishing the talent show will go well, and not end in flames with Lance running off the stage because the pressure was too much. I mentally slid the thought away, deliberately forcing the thought out of my head, like a fish flying on a hook. 

 

Something came to mind right then and there, and I smiled widely showing off all of my teeth, canines and all, “Sup with the face, mullethead? Thinking about your amazing, super fabulous, hot-ass boyfriend.” Lance gloated happily, slapping my face with the back of his hand, a loud gurgled laugh leaving his big eccentric mouth. 

 

“Oh dear lord, we all know how much Kogane thinks about you, McClain. Can we please get to practicing and think about other things when certain people are back home, safe in their houses, away from two love-sick horn-dogs.” Lotor glared at Lance, a certain zig-zagging purple spark zapping between them. 

 

Not that they hated each other, not anymore at least, but Lotor and Lance had this sort of rickety relationship where they always challenged each other. No, not like the rivalry Lance and I sported, still do whenever the time is right, like a battle between us and zombies at the arcade. But between these two bozos, I guess they’re only friends because I’m friends with the two of them. “Oh, put a lid on it, Boss. Let’s get crackalackin. Show us everything you got.” The glint in Lance’s blue-green eyes shined a beacon towards Lotor, but he answered with a sneering grin, one he meant filled with love I bet and started banging on his drums, signalling for us to get to it. 

 

An hour passed quickly, the sun in the neighborhood dipping low. Any minute now and darkness will enfold around us. It was still a little chilly for fireflies to charm the air, but I could sense a hint of spring in the air, feeling it almost taking the stage which made me think about college. 

 

Once March and April make their debut on the calendar, acceptance letters will be making their rounds. I could feel a small swivel of nausea having a party in my gut just by the thought of the letters being slotted in our mailboxes. “See you guys at school tomorrow! We’ll practice again during free period.” Pidge waved goodbye, Hunk following her tail when they both jumped into Mrs. Holt’s car, her smiling face reaching us and waving too. 

 

“I think I need to head home too.” Lotor punched in, gathering his things. 

 

Lance made a nosy hum, but when his eyes reached mine he stopped abruptly, “Dude, it’s only 6pm, gotta hot date tonight or something?”

 

“Or something.” Lotor concluded the matter, smiling. But, was he having company, or just an excuse to leave so that Lance and I could go on with our own, behavioral manners, like our lips touching for a long, long time. 

 

Ever since the ski lodge and Lotor admitting to dating our history teacher, Miss Allura, I’ve been wondering how they’ve been able to hide their relationship. It also made me feel kind of bad that they had to hide it, what with Miss Allura risking losing her job if she was ever caught dating a student. Lotor wasn’t a minor, he was 18, like me, but the laws do say that dating a student can prohibit and result in expulsion and getting let go. 

 

Lotor explained to me how much the two of them love each other, but also, how important it was to keep their relationship a big ass secret. Not that I had a problem keeping it shut, and Lance too, for that matter, but it was more on the principle that they deserved to be out in the open and happy. Guess, he’ll have to wait until graduation, not everything can be dances on roses. 

 

Things all gathered, Lotor made a two finger salute, picking it up from Lance believable enough. Lance shot two finger-guns at our white haired friend. On the outside they showed nothing but resentment for each other, but deep down, I think they both actually like being in each other’s company. 

 

Before Lotor could even make it off my driveway, we all stopped in our tracks and turned around when we heard Shiro in the doorway, “Lotor! Leaving?” He asked politely, darting his gray eyes towards me, his smile growing wider. Yeah, I know, it’s cool that I have friends outside my Voltron cult. 

 

“Uh- yes?” Lotor deadpanned, swinging a look at me drenched in confusion, like why Shiro, my dad, was asking  _ Lotor _ if he was leaving. 

 

I cocked a brow at my dad, he rolled his eyes, yes, he literally rolled his eyes at me like I was the grown ass adult out of the two of us, “We were wondering if you would stay for dinner-” He caught Lotor’s incredulous look, which was hilarious on our school president, suited him, no pun intended. Shiro kept that smile cemented on his kind but strict face, “Come on, Adam insisted, said the more the merrier tonight!” 

 

Lotor eyed my dad, still contemplating if this were some kind of scheme, a scheme for what I had no idea because we had just started hanging out with him, or, Adam had a trick up his sleeve. 

 

I thought about Adam. Thought back to all of his little ploys and plotted schemes up through the years. Specially thinking about recent times involving me and a certain, tall, lanky, tanned skinned, gorgeous delinquent. Swept away from the stupid plots Adam had us reeled into at times, Shiro was still trying to win a certain, long-haired president over for dinner, “We’re making hot tamales tonight, Keith loves them-” 

 

Lance cleared his throat, “And Lance loves them even more- so whaddya say?” Shiro singsonged, his cheeky face slapping Lotor a million times over like a stamp before he huffed out an annoyed grunt, walking inside the house. 

 

“I’m assuming that was a yes?” Shiro looked at us, catching both our nodding heads. 

 

“In Boss language, that is a hard yes.” Lance chided, catching a loose lock of my hair and sweeping it behind my ear. The gesture was so innocent and gentle, almost like second nature for him, but something twirled like a ballerina dancer in my stomach. 

 

Comprehending my state of shock and boiled cheeks, Lance made a guffaw of a laugh, “What, cat caught your tongue?” He winked a blue-green eye at me before pulling me in for a sweet, sweet spearmint tasting kiss, dipping in his delicious tongue in the process. 

 

“Oh no, it’s only me.” 

 

“Shut up!” I pushed my gloved hands on his chest, laughing along with him until we both turned our heads towards the end of the driveway, picking up on a familiar face. 

 

Lance’s jaw had hit the concrete, and I, literally, had to smack his jaw back into place. The reason to Lance’s sudden gawking, even though his boyfriend was standing right next to him, trying to look like a snack wearing his favorite blue and white baseball shirt and skinny jeans, also sporting his favorite green jacket with the hoodie that he always complained I never wore enough, was because our history teacher was standing at the end of my driveway. And she, to be fucking honest, and yes I am fucking so gay too, she looked amazing. 

 

But why the hell was she standing at the end of my driveway? Was this a carpool route to come pick up her boyfriend, her secret boyfriend who’s residing in my home right now where the principal, her boss, is inside cooking dinner. 

 

“Miss Allura..” I stuttered, not sure why I was stuttering at my history teacher, the one teacher I admired at our school, “What’s up? Why are you here?” I almost asked her if she was picking up Lotor and if they were going out tonight. 

 

Granted, she did know that I knew about her and Lotor’s relationship and everything, but, she didn’t know that Lance knew, because I told him, and we promised to tell each other everything, and also, Lance was on to me the evening at the ski lodge and threatened not to kiss me anymore so I gave in pretty easily. Why am I this weak? 

 

“I..” Miss Allura started, tucking a strand of her waist long, silver bleached hair, shining ever so brightly under the moonlight tonight, and yes, Lance was still gawking. I blame her outfit. She was wearing fitted, tight blue jeans and a nice, cottony white blouse that enhanced her milk-chocolate skin in contrast. 

 

“‘Lura?” When the nickname fell into the open, crisp air, it never dawned on me that it was Shiro who said her nickname and not her boyfriend, Lotor, who was the only person I knew of who called her that. 

 

Wait,  _ Shiro? _

 

Miss Allura’s face beamed, her smile flashing into a colgate smile, a warm sea of blue with hues of magenta dancing about when she caught on to who was standing by our front door. 

 

“Shiro!?” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm aware this might seem like a plothole that Shiro's never seen Allura till now, but it'll all be explained in the next chapter. ;)


	65. Awkward

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Omg- I'm sorry it's taken me this long to get a new chapter up! I have been uninspired when it came to this and the next chapter coming. I just want to write the chapters after these, but I really needed to build something up for the next chapter coming. 
> 
> Hope you guys are still here to read, I know it's not as suspenseful as it has been earlier with the build-up to Keith and Lance's relationship, but I promise more good stuff and more twists and turns are coming. 
> 
> Also, we're pretty close to the end, I don't how many more chapters are left, but it's less than 10. (So far that I know of)

So we’re all dying to know. How didn’t Miss Allura already know that Shiro was married to Adam, when they obviously knew each other given from their little giddy reunion happening right in front of me and Lance, which we were sandwiched- er- trapped in the middle of all of this. 

 

“I- I thought you moved? Adam never told me it was you who started at Garrison Prep this school year.” Shiro shot forwards like a slingshot, towards our history teacher, bringing her into a wild bear hug, lifting her up from her feet and twirling her around. 

 

Miss Allura sounded like a little schoolgirl being twirled around by my father. Which he had a lot of explaining to do. I made a very loud, very obvious cough, noticing in Lance’s awkward lip drag, then guffawing as his elbow bumped me when I fake coughed. “Keeith.” He whispered with a tinge of a whine under his breath, groaning when I jabbed my elbow back in his side. 

 

“How about we all go inside, dinner’s ready in five minutes.” Shiro said with a chipper tone, shooting me a huge, bright smile. 

 

What the hell was going on? Were they related? Or, hold the phone, did they use to date? I bumped a hard shoulder against Lance’s while we let Miss Allura and Shiro make their way inside. “You don’t think?” I tugged at Lance’s sweater to get him close to me when I asked him the unfinished question, letting the rest of the question simmer out in the open for interpretation in case someone could hear me. 

 

Lance made a face, one where all of his features started scrunching up and make lines on his smooth, smooth face. I slapped a tired palm on my forehead, knowing that he couldn’t decipher my question. Guess it’s back to the drawing board. I sighed, grabbed his chin with two very restless and very gripping fingers, slinging his face towards my father and our history teacher who were chattering a raging storm walking towards the entrance. 

 

At first I thought Lance was just being delusional, not quite grasping the situation at hand, but then I noticed a shift, first in his eyebrows, the thin brows began raising slowly up towards his hairline, then his long eyelashes fluttered before his lids opened extremely wide and landing a slap of the ocean on me. _ Bingo _ . “Nooooo.” He gasped quietly in my face at first, “Or?” he then asked with a hum leaving his mouth, lowering a brow at me.

 

“I dunno! It looks like it, look at that smile on him. Adam’s the only other person I know who can make him smile and act like an idiot like that. And Shiro’s never an idiot, he’s freaking immune to idiocracy!” I kept my hand tugged on his sweater, the fabric soft and smelling like Enchanted Rose softener, the one Lance explicably asked Adam to buy when he moved in. Trust me, all of my house reeks of Enchanted rose because of my doofus boyfriend, it’s certainly, nauseating, “Come on, we need to see how this plays out.” As my grip tightened on his collar, a choked  _ Keith  _ came out of his mouth, but we halted when I noticed nothing was budging. “Lance!” 

 

“Lotor’s in there, Keith.” Lance explained, and those green specks, they were telling me a story. One reminding me and rewinding something back to the day I caught our stubborn president canoodling with our history teacher. 

 

“Oh, motherfu-”

 

“Keith! Lance! Come on, dinner!” We both heard Adam call from the door. 

 

Finally moving those long, long legs, I slapped him, again, on the shoulder, “Stop rubbing your hands like a villain with a plan, babe! This is bad, so bad.” I groaned, knowing exactly how this dinner was going to play out, like this were an episode of  _ Friends _ or something. Did Adam know about this? Our history teacher coming over? Asking Lotor to stay for dinner? 

 

_ Fuck!  _ He knows about their relationship, it’s the only reason why both of them are here, in my house, ready to eat dinner. Adam must have invited Miss Allura over to discuss matters on their, somewhat, or very highly, I have no idea how illegal this is compared to other felonies, but I do know that teachers are usually not allowed to have a relationship with a student, despite them being of legal age. 

 

“Wonder how he found out?” I threw out at Lance before we made it pass the hallway towards the kitchen, wondering about his views on this situation. 

 

Lance made a thinking face, looking absolutely adorable might I be allowed to point out before the ridiculousness that was soon about to unfold during filling our hungry bellies. “Let’s make a bet.” He glimmered that wicked smile, a plan brewing behind those ocean eyes. Seriously, if it didn’t reek of enchanted rose earlier, Lance’s scheming face just heightened it tenfold. 

 

“What kind of bet?” I narrowed an eye at him. A bet made by Lance McClain always smelled like trouble, like enchanted rose trouble, with a hint of spearmint bubblegum. My favorite smell. 

 

But seriously, Lance and bets. There was that one time, not that long ago where he bet I couldn’t jump over a fence leading into a secret- er,l we pretended it was secret- facility, like in  _ Stranger Things _ , so that we could, or him most likely cause it’s Lance, to storm Area 51 when the time came. Jesus, it reeked badly with trouble. Firstly, I couldn’t jump the damn fence because there were tiny prickles of barbed wires on the top, which I thought I was nimble enough, and thought my legs were long enough to fling over, but wounded up getting my pants entangled in the wire, and Lance had to call one of the security guards to help me off the fence. Secondly, and most embarrassingly, we had to talk to the security guards and explain that it was an inside bet between me and my boyfriend and explain that we did these stupid things for the fun of it. Yeah, we let out the Area 51 bit, they could be listening. 

 

Let’s just say, it didn’t go well with Adam, and, being the best dad in the world, he never told Shiro. Or else, I wouldn’t have been here to tell you that story. All in all, it ended with Adam explaining that his son and his boyfriend were morons trying to find other things to do besides each other. That was the embarrassing part. 

 

Lance could read my stink-eye. “Oh relax, kitten. It’s innocent. No one’s going to die.” He pulled me in the curl of his side when his arm slinged over my shoulder, whispering in my ear, “Ten bucks says that Adam doesn’t know and all of this is coincidence.” 

 

I started shaking my head rapidly, like a wet dog drying up from a downpour of rain. There’s no other explanation. “I can’t think of anything else that has Lotor _ and _   Miss Allura fine dining in my house, babe. It makes no sense. He knows. Just look for the evil anime persona once we make it to the kitchen.” 

 

“But the bet’s still on?” Lance shot in, still the fucking delinquent, always ready to create more drama or suck in all the drama with a bucket of popcorn in his hands. Let’s see how he feels about Shiro and her being more than acquaintances. 

 

Which, by the by, I still found so odd. Shiro was at the election, and Miss Allura did walk out on the stage to give Adam the envelope with the results. Didn’t Shiro see her? Has everything merely been a series of unfortunate events where Miss Allura and Shiro just never was given that fated chance to meet again?

 

We’ll have to wait and see. Lot’s to cover during dinner tonight. I released one more sigh, preparing myself internally for everything about to go down. I checked my outfit, if everything looked okay. Smoothing my sweater, dusting my pants, stalling basically. “Babe! You look good, no one’s going to pay attention to you anyways.” Lance barged into my personal space, planting a slobbery kiss on my cheek, sparking firecrackers in my cheeks. 

 

“What, they’ll all be looking at you?” I joked, but it was really half-hearted, I had no feeling in my voice at the moment, begrudging the next hour. 

 

We reached Shiro and Miss Allura, who were sharing more snickers, I almost felt sick at the sound. He was giving her the tour of the house, walking down the stairs, “Keith, Lance! Guess I need to tell you guys how ‘Lura and I know each other.” Shiro said, and I noticed his hand was resting firmly on the small of our history teacher’s back. _ The hell? _

 

“Oh, Shiro! We can tell them during dinner, I’m sure Adam wants to know too!” She clapped her hands rapidly hardly making a single sound vibrate from her hands. 

 

Lance and I made a quick look at each other, then smiled and decided against answering them and instead followed into the kitchen where Lotor was already placed next to Ruby, Adam standing by the stove finding a tray of tamales to place on the table. 

 

“‘Lura?” Lotor suddenly squeaked when he saw who strolled into the kitchen invitingly, his dark blue eyes going dull with mortification. 

 

“Baby?” The word tumbled out of Miss Allura unannounced, her dark hand flying to her baby-pink colored lips.

 

The kitchen went quiet. Awkwardness coming on super thick in the air, Miss Allura saved herself when two seconds passed, pointing for dear life at my little sister. 

 

“Uh! Is this little Ruby!? She’s adorable!” Dodging the bomb that was calling her secret student boyfriend by his pet name. Almost everyone in the room, leaving out my dads and poor little Ruby, dragging out an exhale of relief. Damn, she dodged a bullet there, I thought I saw her soul outside her body for a moment there.  

 

Ruby made a cute, wide smile, slamming the table with her little hands and laughing uncontrollably at Miss Allura, who had now hurtled over to Ruby’s seat and was hugging her, or more like squishing her; their cheeks bunched together, looking so tremendously happy that someone called her a baby. 

 

In retrospect, Ruby was not a baby anymore. She’s five, going on six and starting school soon. But, she loved being called a baby, thinking that the more of a baby she is, the more adorable she seems and that would make people want to give her things. Yes, she’s five and very materialistic. Spoiled in other words, but we all still love her and she knows when no means no. Usually. 

 

“I _ am _ adorable.” Ruby had no problem admitting Miss Allura’s positive mistake.  _ Damn _ , to put a double emphasis on this, she was lucky there. But, on my side of the bet, I’m wondering if her bullet dodging had any effect. I was pretty set on this dinner becoming an interrogation, dragging me and Lance into this since we’re friends with Mr. President. 

 

Once Miss Allura spent a good three minutes glomping my sister, everyone had found their designated seats, all for Shiro, who was dragging a chair out for Miss Allura to sit down on. Oh, and it was next to Lotor. Fun times.  _ Kill me now.  _

 

I really didn’t want to sit across Adam, and raced Lance to grab the seat at the edge of the table, but Lance and damn his sexy long legs, “Quit it!”

 

“Shove it, mullet. I got here first.” Lance argured back, but with a bittersweet tone lacing his smooth voice. If we were under different circumstances, and were minus two party people who this dinner was all about, I’d kiss Lance with my very own slobbery kiss, but I wasn’t one to drag in an audience whenever I wanted some PDA. The audiences tend to always find me, like I was an unlucky, old magnet. 

 

Lance’s large hand covered my face, keeping me away from the seat I wanted to vacate and keep away from the principal at our school, who I was dire to stay away from before any bombs spilled from his mouth. “Young love.” We all heard Shiro quip standing behind Miss Allura, “Come you boneheads, dinner is going to get cold, and Adam has been slaving in the kitchen all day. Haven’t you, baby?” 

 

My dads shared a gross, loving look. “Gag, you two love-birds can do that later in your room, let’s get this party started.” Lance said with his sinister tone, the one I usually hated, but loved whenever we pointed our guns at zombies. Lance’s hand was still in my face, I channeled his delinquency and stuck my tongue out, licking the inside of his hand, “Babe, that doesn’t work on me. I invented that, now go take your seat.” 

 

God, if we were that demanding whenever we were in bed, I wouldn’t have been able to stand right. Shaking away the lewd thought of my boyfriend ever wanting to become a dominatrix, I grumbled out a couple words at him and took my seat, across from Adam, and from the sudden glint bouncing off his glasses, I could see something brewing behind his own hazel eyes. 

 

While dinner was being served, we all fell into a calm and casual chat. Shiro erupted with his loud voice, wanting to take over the conversations and twine it to the part where him and Miss Allura where more than acquaintances. So, begoethst our evening. 

 

“Allura, how do you know my husband?” Adam shot in, while grabbing the finished plates, his eyes were warm and soft, nothing hard at all behind them. Maybe we might be able to luck out of this after all. My gaze darted back and forth between Lotor’s crazy blue eyes and sweat-coated forehead, to Miss Allura’s twitching left eye. “Oh, Shiro and I go way back. I used to be his neighbor during middle school.” She started, smiling those pearly whites at my dad like noone was keeping any illegal secrets under this roof. 

 

Middle-school? I still hadn’t moved in our old house during then. Everything before the fire is basically a blur, but if Miss Allura used to be Shiro’s neighbor then that means, “I drove by our old neighborhood a while ago, but the house I used to live in has been torn down and replaced by a new one it seems.” Miss Allura looked worried once her magenta inflamed eyes caught Adam’s, then Shiro’s, and then my and Lance’s. 

 

It would be too soon to tell her about the fire. “Yeah, the couple who lives there now are kinda loaded, so they tore the house down and had a new one built. Tricky times.” Adam cut in, giving me a quick squeeze on the knee.  

 

Miss Allura showed no feelings towards the matter, smiling and continuing, “Well then, no, Shiro and I, we were best friends during middle-school. Inseparable, some might agree. Others thought we were dating, but it was never like that..” She chuckled, and my heart started beating normally once her words flew in to me, “Then my father was given a job opportunity he couldn’t say no to, and we moved. I went to high school a couple states over at Galra High, and Shiro and I, we sort of lost contact.” 

 

“Sorry ‘Lur. High school really was a blur for me. I’ll tell you all about it some other time.” Shiro interjected, catching Miss Allura’s sweet expression, adding a curt nod to her gorgeous face.  

 

Lance and Lotor were paying close attention to the whole matter dicing around the table. Ruby had left ages ago to play with Kosmo, but she would interrupt the adults from time to time asking, no, pleading to know when we were having dessert. Adam had to tell her that it’s a weekday and we don’t eat desserts on weekdays. She countered that we had guests and that would make us very, very bad hosts if we didn’t offer them dessert. She did have a very fair point. 

 

“But like,” Lance opened his big mouth, catching everyone around the table’s attention- ever the attention whore-, “What about school? And the election!? How has it almost gone a whole school year and the two of you haven’t even met yet?” 

 

Both Miss Allura and my father break out in a series of laughs and chuckles, Shiro pointed an accusing finger at Adam, “It’s that dipshit’s fault,” My eyes grew big from the swear word that fell out of Shiro’s mouth. Is he trying to look cool in front of our history teacher, his former best friend? Granted, it was endearing. But weird. “Adam here, he hates mixing work with private life. So everything he knows about the school, the teachers, the tests, everything that doesn’t have anything to do with you kids, I don’t ever get to know.” 

 

Adam sighed, loudly, mostly aiming it at Shiro like he was throwing knives at him, “Sorry for wanting to use the little time I have at home spending it with you and the kids...I hate bringing my job home, you know that hon..” Adam made his signature whimper, the one that rarely ever escapes his lips, but when it does- he had Shiro in his claws. I could finally see that evil glasses anime persona creeping forth, the glint of his glasses always sent shivers up and down my spine. 

 

Lance read my shiver, sending me a cute blue wink. He was sitting three seats over, all the way at the edge, and me being the most clingy boyfriend in the world, he was too damn far away- like a world away, oceans away. He was mouthing something now, I furrowed my brows at him, mouthing the word  _ what. _ “Enough sexting you two…” Lotor shot in, probably trying to let us know he was alive and kicking, not sweating and trembling for Adam to take his investigation further. 

 

Both Lance and I scoffed, “The election…” We heard Shiro say out loud...he started cackling, bringing Lance, Lotor and I back to the present, “Right before the announcement, probably before ‘Lura made her way on the stage, Ruby really had to go potty…” I slammed my palm on the table, waking everyone up around the table, hearing Kosmos’ bark from the living room. 

 

“Is it dessert time now!?” We all heard Ruby nag through Kosmos’ barking. 

 

It was all just coincidence. This whole thing. Shiro knowing Miss Allura, Adam inviting our history teacher over for dinner and Lotor just being here for rehearsal, not like he knew she was coming, or that Adam knew.  _ Still _ , despite all of this, we still don’t know the reason yet why Adam invited Miss Allura over for dinner. 

 

Speak of the devil, Ruby ran into the kitchen, hugging Adam’s knees when he pushed himself from the table, “Rubes, I’m getting the dessert.” He grumbled, releasing a sigh of irritation when the little devil started screaming out in joy, then proceeded to run around the table with jubilant hands yelling ice cream, ice cream! 

 

Fuck yes. Both Lance and I met eyes when Adam found the carton of Birthday Cake ice cream. Suddenly, nothing was of importance in that moment until we had our bowl filled with sprinkled goodness set before us. Lance took a humongous bite of his ice-cream, being the sneaky demon he is, swiping his spoon over the table and scooping a chunk of my own ice-cream, my mouth dropped below the Earth’s surface when I witnessed what the asshole delinquent thought he could do to me, “Lance! You-” I held my mouth clamped, forcing down any swear words knowing Ruby was sitting right there almost entering an ice-cream coma any second now. 

 

All Lance did was blow an annoying kiss at me, then bite, bite I tell you like the heathen he is, the ice cream, and there was nothing I could do about it. “Can you two stop acting like children for two seconds…” Adam glared at the two of us, “I have some news to share.” His smile was surprisingly genuine, not tired or forced at, which was a first. 

 

“There’s a reason why I invited Allura over for dinner tonight.” Adam then proceeded to tell us. Lance, Lotor and I were all ears, stretching them open as much as possible, waiting impatiently to grasp this whole dinner evening that hadn’t gone sideways….yet. 

 

The ice cream in Adam’s bowl had melted, leaving a puddle of vanilla and sprinkles. It was a sight for sore eyes, literally. He wiped his mouth with a napkin, smiling gently at Miss Allura. “First of all, I would like to say to you and to everyone around this table, how proud I am to have you on our team, even if it were only temporary…” 

 

Temporary? Has Miss Allura been a sub all this time? The wave of shock hit all of us when our gazes shifted left, right, then across the table. Adam never told us, not even Miss Allura, that she was a temp at Garrison Prep. We were all sure that she had a steady job there. Granted, she’s young. A newly educated teacher, but with how well she worked with the other teachers and got along, a bit too well, with the students, we thought she would never quit. Garrison Prep needs her. Was this dinner a goodbye dinner? 

 

I caught Lotor’s tan face, his hair was smoothed down with gel, the darkness of his blue, blue eyes casting shadows of wonder at Adam, then twirling to Miss Allura, like she had kept a secret from him. “You’re quitting!?” Lance broke out. 

 

“Not that I know of? My contract is for the end of the year.” Miss Allura answered, but she made a confused expression at Adam. 

 

Adam smiled. “I just learned earlier this week that Ms. Honerva is retiring. Meaning, we have an opening for a steady position,  working here full-time. If you want it? I wanted to personally ask you as you are one of my finest teachers at Garrison Prep. You do a wonderful job with the students; they listen to you, you’re organized, the grades are kept up. I wouldn’t have asked for a better teacher, honestly.” 

 

Miss Allura’s cheeks blazed a pretty crimson color, contrasting wildly with her dark complexion. But there was a look in her eyes, one that gave me a sinking feeling in my gut. Like something was bothering her. 

 

She peeled her baby-pink lips into a smile, one that looked, in my opinion, quite forced. “Adam. I-” She was speechless. Still, that sinking feeling, I could feel it sinking deeper and deeper the more her eyes grew more and more worried. I cast a glance at Lotor, and his face was reflecting Miss Allura’s. He knew something was up. 

 

“You can’t leave Garrison Prep! You’re like the future there, Miss Allura!” 

 

“Lance!” I made a mean look at him to shut up, and stop butting in all the time, “You’re not even going to be a GP next year! Why are you being so dramatic?” 

 

“Well, sorry for wanting to keep the good teachers at our school.” He mocked back at me. 

 

I took a large bite of my ice-cream, not literally biting it, but, you get what I mean, “You’ve hardly  been at this school for a year! It doesn’t concern you…” I started, but then calmed myself, taking a deep breath in, then exhaled. When my eyes opened, everyone was staring at me, “Uh- but I do agree with Lance, you should take the job Miss Allura. You’re our favorite teacher, you even got my boyfriend to call you the future...which by the way!” I was sneering at Lance now, sensing an electric spark going off between us, “You said I was the future, babe.” And jealousy struck its path in me, couldn’t help it. 

 

Lance rolled his eyes at me, but that wicked smile that I love, and those green specks in that ocean were dancing pirouettes at me, and I knew I couldn’t keep my love for him back any more. He mouth a  _ sorry,  _ and I mouth an  _ I love you.  _ Lotor groaned, starting a connecting train of groans passing by Adam, Shiro, Ruby and even Miss Allura. 

 

“Yeah, of course. I’ll…” Miss Allura hesitated for a second, casting a magenta eye at Lotor, then, “take the job.” 


	66. Apology

It’s Thursday. Sure, just a regular common day of the week. The day before Friday, a day most people look forward to after Wednesday, leisurely aware that the weekend is just around the corner, and people will be ready to cast Friday aside in a frenzy at work, to then throw all their working morals away while enjoying the next two forthcoming days with no care in the world. 

 

As much as I loved closing in on the weekend, this day, Thursday, it only implied that the date glowing on my phone- on my digital watch- that it was February 13th. Meaning, tomorrow is February 14th. Valentine’s Day to most people, a day filled with love and passing delicious gifts, but for me, and for Lance, it was a day of dread. 

 

The classroom was filled to the brim with hearts in the colors of  _ amor, _ and red and pink toned streamers snaking the walls, ready to celebrate a whole day dedicated to love. Lance would have been over the moon right now, professing his undying love to me with haikus, and sharing a heart shaped lollipop in the middle of class. But alas, he’s all droopy, sliding off his chair with one airpod occupying his eardrum, probably with the song we were going to sing live in less than t-minus 24 hours. 

 

We’re in the middle of history, Miss Allura was going through our last test talking about what she had expected of us on one of the questions about World War 2. Yeah, we were still lingering on that topic and I was ready to rip my hair off if I heard the name Hitler or Stalin one more time. 

 

No offence to Miss Allura, she was just doing her job, but I was having an internal fit, and a battling crisis with praying to an invisible entity, hoping that my boyfriend would be ready to sing in front of the whole school and their families at the talent show tomorrow. 

 

“Keith..” 

 

Outside the window, I noticed that it had snowed. Like just a minute ago it was summer, but now, a blanket of white was dusting lightly over the greenery of the parking lot. My mind was scattering, drifting in the moment, thinking about how the talent show would go down tomorrow. Man, I hoped that Lance wouldn’t stand us all up. I love the guy, of course, but something inside of me, this certain feeling of a chunk of cement drowning in the pit of my stomach, was informing me, rather much screaming, that maybe Lance was planning on ditching us all. 

 

“Keeeeith…” 

 

“Wha-what? Lance, ‘sup?” Lance’s pulled face made me furrow my thick brows, “Is something wrong? Is it the talent show?” I grabbed his hand in mine, squeezing his warmth, a rise flush threatening to rise on my cheeks at the touch. I smiled calmly at him; he had turned around in his chair to face me, since we were going to read the next chapter- signal horns blaring in my head with jubilance, not sarcasm at all- as we were finally going to study the cold war. 

 

Instead of studying the open chapter before me, I glanced a curious eye at Lance’s still pulled face. His lips were formed into a straight line, and I could hear music from his airpod streaming into my own eardrums. “You’re listening to our song, good. That is a good thing right?” I whispered back at him, keeping my eye peeled at him.  

 

He made a curt nod with his golden head, tipping a lilting smile on the corner of those peachy lips, and the cement sinking down my digestive system was slowly dissolving. He seemed calm, but I could see a raging hurricane swirling around in those blue-green irises.  _ Please don’t bolt on the stage, please don’t bolt on the stage, _ I chanted in my head, digging my gaze into that raging hurricane. 

 

Despite the windy storm going on behind those pools of black, I took a once over my lucious boyfriend. To my utmost adequate perception, he always dressed nicely. Even when he was a crazed mess and stressing like crazy for tomorrow. He had borrowed, like he always did, the fiend, my favorite oversized red hoodie and paired it with his favorite pair of washed out blue jeans. Even my favorite leather jacket, the one I got while we hated each other, had become a second skin to his body. I couldn’t have any nice things unless my cat of a boyfriend decided to occupy them ten seconds later. 

 

“Listen, babe.” I kept my voice low, not to disturb the class. Lance inched closer, his smile causing my heart to rush down a raging river, “I can see you’re nervous. Uh- you’re almost convulsing here. I know standing in front of the whole school and all of their friends and family might seem scary-”

 

“Scary? Babe, you know I love horror movies, scary doesn’t have any effect on Lancey-Lance. But this, tomorrow, it’s effing trapped in tight spaces scary, standing on top of the tallest mother effing building and someone is threatening to push you off terrifying. That’s scary-  _ oh _ , why did I go along with this?” 

 

His quietly squealed whimper was one of genuinity, not those common whimpers he made when he wanted something from me. Not the mocking kind. My boyfriend was scared to boot, but I wanted him to finally get through this. Face his fears, because if he doesn’t face them now, how is he going to face them when he gets into our dream college? 

 

Fine, he did explain to me how the course doesn’t demand of him to stand in front of a live audience. But he’s just too damn good to hide those heavenly sounding pipes. More people need to hear his angelic voice. I feel bad being the only person who is given the listening pleasure of my boyfriend. 

 

I made a deep breath, continuing to inhale while staring at Lance to urge him to follow my lead. He caught on to my drift, and started inhaling along with me. A deep, deep breath in, Lotor snorted at us on our side, but he followed suit, reading the nevrosity going ballistic in Lance’s gaze. 

 

All three of us breathed out in unison, “What is this, a seance?” Miss Allura glided past us, flashing an incredulous look. 

 

“Sorry, Miss Allura. Lance was being his usual nervous wreck. Just needed to calm him down. We’ve found out that meditating calms him, and his zen  _ zaps him _ .” I made air quotes with my fingers while rolling my eyes at my boyfriend. 

 

Lance scoffed, “What, it  _ does _ . My zen is all calm and cool now, thanks babe.” The bounce of the sudden sun shining through made his already golden face, shine like the radiance he was in my life. I couldn’t do anything but smile back at him, his reassurance all he could promise me at the moment. 

 

Hopefully, he’ll resume calm and cool, all the way until the first chord and strum of the guitar sounds off. If not, well, nothing bad’s going to happen, but I did have a little surprise for him tomorrow and I hope he’ll be present for it; alive and kicking on the stage with me, instead of panicked and screaming off the stage finding the nearest toilet. 

 

I made an internal groan at the thought of all the catastrophes that could happen tomorrow. 

 

Lance was chatting with Lotor about everything that had nothing to do with the cold war, and avoiding any talk or topic that revolved around singing or talent show. Lotor went with his usual navy blue suit, but he seemed more relaxed compared to before he became our friend. His long, bleached blonde hair was up in a high ponytail today, and he was wearing one of those funky friendship bracelets Ruby got us all to make while we barricaded the living room a couple weeks ago so that we could watch this new movie that came out, but since Ruby is Ruby, she made us all promise that we would make friendship bracelets with her since she couldn’t watch her shows that day. Seriously, if she wasn’t Adam’s child, then I don’t know who claimed her as kin. 

 

I heard Lance pour his heart out about the latest gossip at GP: Ezor had finally found someone to share her glossy lips with and it surprised pretty much the whole gang, me included and these things were usually a snoozefest in my opinion, but hello, she was seen canoodling with Zethrid. Zethrid! She’s like the beefiest chick at our school, everyone was terrified of her. One look and you were digging your own grave. How Ezor got her claws on her lips was on us. But, hey, good for her anyways. Before I could lecture Lance again on how we should be talking about school-related issues and not whose lips were smacking with whoms, the bell went off in a loud clang and before we made our way out to the hall I caught Miss Allura waving a perfectly manicured hand at me, and at Lance. 

 

Since the dinner earlier this week, our history teacher, ever the stoic and perfectly good at her job teacher, had been, relentlessly, unfocused. The day after the dinner, and gaining this new kind of approval and praise by my dad, she’s been so, ditsy. When she was going to write on the board, she grabbed a permanent marker, and it took her two full sentences to realize what she had been using. I know I should have said something, but she was too lost in her thoughts by writing on the board, that the other students who did call out to her, they were only white noise in her view. 

 

Then, during lunch that same day, she met with my dad by the lunch line, but pretended he didn’t exist. Instead, she fumbled her way out of the line and speed-raced on 7-inch heels out of the cafeteria. 

 

And just today, before class started, she stood by the door to greet us, but she got everyone’s names wrong. Like, she’s had us for closer to a whole school year. Of course, she knows all of our names. 

 

Something was up with her, and it’s been ever since Adam gave her the opportunity to work full time here at GP, and he praised her as one of the best teachers at his school. She should be dancing the can-can happy, but, I could understand her situation if she were terrified to come out to my dad and explain that she’s in a serious romantic relationship with one of her students. But, she could wait until graduation, pretend her and Lotor met at the groceries that summer, and they hit it off all in one go. I could assume Adam wouldn’t find any problems in that. Hell, I bet Adam would easily go along with Allura dating Lotor right now. 

 

Right, but with the school policy that forbids teachers from having romantic affairs with their students, I could also grasp how this would make Miss Allura look in Adam’s eyes. Damn, she’s probably been having a craze these past few days wondering if she made the right choice of accepting the job. Because sooner or later, if she really loved Lotor, Adam’s gonna have to know. 

 

Both Lance and I scuttled over to her desk, her manicured hand falling gently down on her desk. Her white smile was still as blinding as ever, her darkened face blemished free and perfectly smoothed out with not a single wrinkle indicating she was closer to her thirties than she ever was. 

 

I spotted one worried wrinkle coming from the side of her lip when she slid them uncomfortably to the side, her magenta inflamed eyes heavily focused on me. 

 

“Lonce, could you sit down there, please. You can still be here as this regards you too, but it mostly regards Keith.” She gestured a hand to the desk at the front, Carol’s desk, her favorite spot in the classroom, front and center. Lance nodded nonchalantly, not saying a single word as the tone of Miss Allura’s voice was heavily reduced to anything but calm. 

 

Lance plopped down in Carol’s seat, and Lotor was seated next to him, “Why’re you here? Does this have anything to do- oh shitballs-”

 

“Lonce, we’re still at school, I’ll have to mark you for swearing…”

 

Lance held both his hands up apologetically, dragging his lips downwards and casting a blue glance at Lotor, “My bad, but if this is about you guy’s…” He held a hand over his mouth, “Ra-la-tion-ship.” He formed out each syllable slowly only to earn a distressed sound bubbling out of our history teacher, and me included. 

 

“No, Lonce. It’s actually not about that. This still does have everything to do with Lotor and I, but not how you presumed. It’s almost…”

 

She went quiet. I could see her teeth grinding inside her mouth, her hands flexing rapidly, and her eyes shooting lasers side to side in contemplation. 

 

“It’s almost what, Miss Allura?” I trudged out carefully, snaking a half gloved hand towards her desk, towards her fisted white left hand. 

 

Something was wrong, so wrong taking in the saddened expression from my history teacher. Had someone died? Did I cheat on a test without knowing? Was she having us all fooled and was gonna burst out like they did in Punk’d? Maybe she was pregnant, but why would she pull us to the side to share those news? 

 

“It’s worse, Keith. I...I’ve done something I shouldn’t have.”

 

“Don’t you mean someone?” Lance chimed in, his snicker dying instantly when Lotor, Miss Allura and I all shot him a menacing stare. 

 

“Babe, now’s not the time. This seems serious.” 

 

“Sorry for wanting to lighten the mood in here, it’s getting all dark and gloomy and I’m not talking about the weather.” This time Lance had his ringed hands up in offence, but he made a soft gaze at me, the green flecks in his eyes signalling their apology at me. 

 

I shot a lighting fast wink at him before I turned back to Miss Allura. “What do you mean worse? Sure, having a relationship with a student is bad enough, but Lotor’s not a minor, and you two love each other, I don’t see anything bad in that…” 

 

“You’re sweet, Keith.” Miss Allura started, her eyes fogging. “And, oh, that just makes what I did even worse.” Her disheartened state had me wanting to soothe her, but that was Lotor’s job, and she was my teacher and, honestly, I didn’t know her all that well. 

 

Learning that she had been childhood friend’s with Shiro was brand new information that was given to me like a slap in the face only a few days ago. That’s how little I know of her. Everything else, is basically a secret until she ever wanted to share something with us, which was hardly ever. She was a reserved person, always keeping to herself. If the other students in class asked her personal questions, she would answer with as little information as possible or divert the question altogether by slingshotting the question back at them or answering in another question. 

 

She was a mysterious woman, Miss Allura, but she was one of the kindest people I knew of, and whatever she was talking about that made her feel guilty, I was positive it’s not as bad as she made it seem. 

 

Her hands were covering her face, and we all saw a single current trickle down her cheeks. “Baby,” Lotor immediately dashed out of his seat, comforting his girlfriend, “Just tell them...it’s all in the past anyways..what’s done is done. There’s nothing we can do about it now, unless Keith…” Lotor casted a dark blue gaze at me, “Unless he wants to do something about it.” 

 

“Can someone just tell me what happened. Miss Allura, please stop crying, I’m sure what you did wasn’t all that ba-”

 

“I meddled with the votes.” She said, all in one big tumble. 

 

My breath caught in my throat. “What?”

 

“What!?” I heard Lance scream behind me. 

 

“Babe,  _ babe _ . Sit back down this instant.” I held a hand out at him, pointing a strict finger at his tall, looming figure, who was ready to charge over at our history teacher and make a dent in her sudden confession. 

 

His face locked with mine, almost like we were having our own little stand-off of a cowboy showdown. The yee to the haw ready to strike at each other, but, I could see that hurricane channeling something worse than Katrina in those ocean eyes. I made an even sterner face at him, pointing that strict finger twice at his seat. Bullseye. His nostrils were flaring at me, zipping his eyes at Miss Allura before staring back at me, but eventually, he did that zen thing and lowered his gangly body lower and lower, until he was sliding half-way off his chair. 

 

_ Good delinquent.  _

 

Miss Allura was still crying, silent tears. It would have gone unnoticeable had it not been for the waterworks running down her face. To be honest, she still looked like a model, she could have easily gone into a modeling career if someone decided to fire her here at GP. Not that anyone was going to be fired, but it would have been nice if someone could just tell me what the hell was going on. 

 

We all sat in our chairs, I took my black long sleeved adidas shirt and pulled them over my hands. This sudden stillness between us was getting my chill on, or, it could be the AC on cold, but we all knew how Lance made Lotor turn the temperature up a few degrees in the whole school. He had the argument that he couldn’t work hard if the room was riding all over with icicles stabbing his back. 

 

Thinking back at that, I was glad I never was elected student council president. Having Lance as my secretary or my second in command. Ugh, he would have made so many changes at the school, I’m sure Adam would have thrown his ass back to his old school. Regardless of him being my boyfriend or living with us. 

 

Miss Allura noticed when I pulled my sleeves over my hands. “Keith, I see you’re cold-”

 

“It’s like a million degrees here.” Lotor complained, staring knives at Lance, who just turned his nose up in the air, ignoring the retort. 

 

“Yeah...I’m kinda restless about whatever you’re crying about. Since, well, since you said it had something to do with me. Did I do something wrong? Did I cheat on a test, enough to make you cry...is-” My stomach flipped, I could see sparks floating in my vision. What if this was about my college apps, “Did you hear from my first pick of college? Did I not-” Now my eyes were welling. 

 

I crossed my legs, despite the tightness of my jeans, I managed to get them over each other, rubbing my thighs, and breathing rapidly at the thought that already my dream college has rejected me. 

 

Did they not like what I wrote about Lance? About my trauma? I put my heart and soul into that essay, and I even had Adam read through it, twice, then twice more after that to spell check and make sure I didn’t screw up the grammar and punctuation. He had even shed a few of his own tears when he read it. I only read through it once, because it was too much to bear, too much to take in writing down the memories my mind had repressed for so long, and even with the memories resurfacing, I still couldn’t fish the worst ones as they were still in the bottom depths of my travesties, never to find their way out onto a blank document on my laptop. 

 

“Is this about college, Miss Allura?” I finally forced out with a choking sob. 

 

Miss Allura’s face turned into one of instant shock. She flew out of her chair, flinging her arms around my neck while making cooing noises, soothing me, calming the puncture wound that almost made it out of my chest. “No, Keith. Oh dear, it’s not about that at all.” She assured me, cupping my cheek and wiping the tears that ran down hotly on my cheek, probably making my scar more visible than ever. 

 

I could sense Lance was out of his chair and in a heartbeat his arms had circled around my neck too, kissing my cheek. “Keith, didn’t you listen to me. I said I had meddled with the votes. The election we had a while back. Are you alright? Is it the anxiety? Keith, I’m sure your dream college will accept you without a second thought. You’re our golden boy, our top student. If Altea doesn’t accept you, they have me to deal with.” Miss Allura had always been good at persuasion, and I bet The University of Altea would throw a white flag in the air as soon as they saw my teacher step on their property. 

 

Wait, the election? Have I been so wrapped up in getting accepted, that my mind had wandered on its own and ignored what Miss Allura was trying to tell me? “I’m so sorry, Miss Allura. I wasn’t...my brain..I’ve been so...so…” I was blacking out, the pressure was pushing a heavy weight down on me like a boulder stomping down a Mario character. 

 

Lance dragged his chair, its loud screeching creak echoing in the classroom, and placed it next to me. His hand had found mine, and entwined our fingers, the rough coldness from his golden rings sending a sliver of a tingle up along my arm. “Okay, so we’ve pretty much stalled this whole thing out long enough. Allura, can you just tell us what the problem is. It’s pretty clear you’ve got some baggage that needs unpacking, and it’s not helping any of us if this turns into a depressing sob fest before we even know what you did.” 

 

Lotor stood behind Miss Allura, his face soft, but worried. “It’s like she confessed. She meddled with the votes.”

 

“Yes, we heard, and-” Lance was not having it. His long legs were splayed out on the floor, his free hand gripping his knee giving our teacher and Lotor a sneer. 

 

Miss Allura ran her eyes to the side, “Well!” Her shoulders tensed at Lance’s raised voice. 

 

“Baby, just tell them.” Lotor prompted, quiet touch to his usual bossy voice. 

 

Miss Allura did the zen thing, breathing evenly in, although somewhat shaky, then breathed out slowly, dragging the air out which felt like forever. I was terrified Lance was going to draw any second now. 

 

“I’ve felt bad ever since I did it...truly, Keith. You boys, you did such a wonderful job campaigning and you had so many ideas for the school that would have been beneficial, but I…” She bit at her lower lip, calculating her next words carefully, “I don’t know, love does certain things to you, right?” 

 

Lance was nodding frantically at that, probably thinking about the talent show. Heat rose to my cheeks thinking how brave Lance was to go along with the talent show, and I started to feel a little guilty myself from being too pushy with him about this. 

 

Miss Allura continued, “Lotor...I love him so much, and I thought- oh, this is so selfish of me- I thought since he had been given so much free time last year as council president, that maybe, if he won the election this year too, now that we were dating, I-” 

 

“Wait, wait, wait, wait-” Lance shook his hand side to side, shutting our teacher up. “You’re telling us, that you invaded the election, meddled with the voting, so that Lotor could win- all for a chance to suck face at school?” His face was mirroring my own- indifference. We had no idea how to react to this information. 

 

“It sounds that bad, huh- Oh, Keith, I am the worst teacher, please let me tell Adam everything-” 

 

“No!” I reached out with my own free hand, the air in the room grew ten times hotter. No way did Adam need to know about this, “No, Miss Allura. You deserve to be here at GP. Like Lotor said earlier, what’s done is done. You’re our favorite teacher, not because you’re young and get us, but because you’re really good at your job. Like really, really good-” 

 

“Yeah, you make history less awful- still boring though, but, being able to look at you while you-” 

 

My hand smacked Lance’s big mouth, a tilt of my lips catching the humor lifting up our spirits. “Miss Allura, there’s no need to tell Adam, it’ll become a nuisance for him to have to fire you, his best employee and favorite colleague, not only that, Shiro just found you and may want to spend some time with you catching up. I’m sorry this guilt has been building up inside of you…” I was hoping my calm expression and soft grin would find its way to her unsteady state; hair frazzled, nails rapping the table unconsciously, last of all, her lipstick was left with bright pink blotches all over her lips either unevenly applied or dragged off by tormented teeth. 

 

Another flow of tears spilled over her high cheekbones, almost like two bright pink marks were glowing on them from the heated, salty tears racing down her face. She beamed, wiping away the tears and petting Lotor’s arm with her knuckles for security, “Are you sure? This has been eating me alive every day since I gave Adam the envelope with the results. I can still go to Adam-” 

 

“Please, don’t. The election was ages ago, and besides, I was relieved when I wasn’t elected, and I don’t want to know the real results. If I had become president, I would be stuck with this doofus calling the shots on idiotic ideas.” 

 

“Hey! I called you the future, Keith. The future!” 

 

I cradled him in my arms, kissing the crown of his coconut scented head. “I know, and I can still be the future...your future?” 

 

We were interrupted by my, what almost sounded like a proposal, by Miss Allura’s soft chuckle, “I’m so happy you two found each other, I can really see how much love you have, almost like a whole ocean of love flowing over.” 

 

The bell rang, its familiar loud clanging banging my eardrums. Was all that only ten minutes? Felt like a lifetime. 

 

“Okay,” Miss Allura wiped at her whole face, angling her head side to side at Lotor for an approval of her state. He kissed her cheek, chaste, sweet and my eyes went to the window in the door where no one had, hopefully, caught them. “Get to your classes. I’m glad we talked about this, Keith, and again, if you ever want me to-” 

 

“Is all in the past, Miss Allura. Don’t sweat it. Instead, why don’t you catch up with Shiro one day. I think he would appreciate it, a lot’s happened since you left.” All the air cleared around us, and the AC turned back on giving us a normal temperature again. 

 

Lance followed me out of the classroom, but his feet were dragging on the floor, like he didn’t want the day to go forward. 


	67. Talent

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been psyching myself up to write this chapter as I want it to be perfect. (in my mind at least) I  
> I think I got it written how I wanted it to. There's still more to the talent show coming, but this chapter is special since it's written in a different pov. (the only chapter with this pov - i think) 
> 
> Song is by Our Last Night - pretty much all of their music has been inspiration for this fic <3

God, I loved how this jacket smelled- _Enchanted Rose_ , because all it reminded me of was the smell of Keith. _Mi amor_ , my whole universe, the boy I would love to bring with me to the edge of the universe and holler at every specie, planet, galaxy, milky way, stars, aliens; okay fine- sorry, but yeah- I’d like to scream to my nearest companion at least, that I loved Keith. 

 

But I couldn’t tell him that, yet. We had a deal, and I was sticking to it. Even if it would grind his inner, and outer gears, ten million percent; till the nerves in his body went haywire, I was going to wait. Because the day he hears those three words escape my lips, he was going to collapse into a puddle of goo- love goo. Made by Lance McClain, causer of Keith-turned-goo. 

 

‘Cept right now, with the heavy waft of Enchanted rose reaching my nostrils like I’d rubbed tiger balm under them stinging my senses, I understood that maybe I should have just told him how much I loved him. Since, right now, I knew his love for me would be balled up into a piece of paper and thrown out the door, once he learned that I was not getting ready for one of the most important days we had had planned since the new year started. 

 

But, this smell, rubbing off his jacket, that I stole gladly, and wistfully thinking that everything I touched that was his, was also mine. He was mine. My Keith. “I’m sorry, Keith.” I sent my voice into a whisper, mostly because I had run it hoarse from crying my eyes out thinking lowly about myself, thinking how stupid I was for not taking a stand facing these fucking fears. 

 

Deep breath in, _Enchanted Rose_ reached me again making me only think about one thing, one person, those deep dark indigo eyes that I loved staring into, lingering on them, thinking about the secrets of the universe all at the same time. 

 

God, the scent had been imprinted on me, and I couldn't ever let it leave me. Reminding me of summer, but Keith, he reminded me of autumn. Dark, hot, warm colors; perfect, like those autumn vibes that he projected from him vibrated off onto me, flowing into my very essence. I loved it. I loved him. 

 

Why didn’t I just buy this jacket that time we looked at it? I knew he hated it when I took his favorite clothes. Air gutted out my nostrils at the thought, sliding my eyes towards the slivered window cut into the door, the lights from the hallway lighting up the dark room I was hiding in. Buying this jacket, me? Nah, I knew from the minute I spotted it, that it had Keith written all over it. I was just happy that, that I got to be the one to hold onto it. Hold onto him while wearing it. 

 

I tugged the jacket tighter around my body, breathing in the scent of my boyfriend. Hopefully, he would still want to be my boyfriend after he found out where I was. Not in the auditorium, that’s for sure. 

 

It was funny, really. Because I was calm. Like an odd, eerie kind of calm. Sort of like that calm before a storm, where you’re standing in the middle of the road, and the clouds are graying darker and darker by the second as you’re staring at them, and the wind picks up into a spiral plucking with it all the leaves and dust turning it into a tiny tornado of foreshadowing, giving off the hint that the storm is coming. Soon. 

 

For some reason, I knew Keith was going to find me. One way or another, Keith would not let this day end until the fat lady sings. Or, when his lavish, perfect Cuban boyfriend slapped his face a couple times and just did the deed while he stood in front of the fucking crowd, proving to them that he could sing a song live if he wanted to. 

 

My teeth clenched, gritting down hard like I was cracking into hard candy, and a wet stream of scared, nervous tears was running down my cheek. “Fuck..” I scraped out of my throat, still hoarse from screaming at myself when the others left the house earlier today. 

 

I was doing some form of a motivational speech, screaming into the mirror time and time again for ten minutes straight. I had told myself that it was all going to be a piece of cake. That Keith would be right there right next to me, his smile spread wide to ease the jitters biting my insides. That his hand would easily slither into mine; lock, cock and pulling it close to him, knowing that his warmth would be that ticket to keep my heart at bay, not punch out of my chest once the lights turned on bright on my face and then the guys would start playing the music to our songs, and then I’d open my mouth and sing. That was all to it, I had tried to argue with myself. 

 

Tough love, isn’t that what they say? It’s all fucking tough love. Suck it up. Be brave, Lance! Hell, you’re a fucking delinquent, no? What, you can set off a couple cherry bombs in the boy’s bathroom, teepee the trees in the school's parking lot and even make fun of Daddy Principal or call the student body president for a turd right in his face, but you can’t suck it up for a couple songs and sing in front of the school? _Such a pussy_ , I thought to myself, slamming a fisted palm hard on the carpeted floor.  

 

I felt like such a coward, a freaking imbecile being cooped up here in the music room hiding away from the rest of the world. From Keith. He might hate me right now. I was bound to hear one of his lectures when he finds me. 

 

But, I couldn't. I couldn't face the music, literally couldn't face it. I really wanted to stand on that stage with Keith; with Pidge, Hunk and hell, even Bossman-Lotor, but my insides were proving everything less and less worth it all. I was bound to make a fool of myself on that stage; my vocals might scratch, a pitch could find its way through the song, someone could start laughing at me and my rage would easily take over and I’d stop the song midway to show them all a lesson with my fist. 

 

No, it’s all too much. I was better off laying on the disgusting floor of the music room, in the dark, and let the day pass by without me. I knew I was letting down the people I loved the most, but I’d already let down my loved ones earlier. So what was a few more to add into the fucking equation?  

 

I knew on thing was for sure. I was betraying Keith. Glancing down at my watch, the show was going to start in fifteen minutes. I arrived here, at the school, after Keith because he knew I was preoccupied hurling in the can- motivating myself- before they made a move on. I had told him to go on without me, but he was fast on standing outside the bathroom to make sure I would come with them. At last, he heard the sincerity in my promise when I told him that I would be right behind him if he just left already to leave me to my heaving needs without having an audience. Also, I told him that Blue needed a refill of gas, so that sort of got him believing me. But not really, no. He could read me like an open book. Like I was some kind of motel sign that read _“Lance is a fucking liar and scared to death, just open the port to hell for him already.”_

 

He left in the end, though, it wasn’t an easy fight, but he left. 

 

_Thunk_

_Thunk_

_Thunk_

 

The hard pounding on the door sounded like the beat of my heart. Thunking away in rapid, unsteady motions, like it was ready to puncture out of my chest and scream at me with a lecture of how much of a bad boyfriend I was being.

 

“Lance!” 

 

_Pound_

_Pound_

_Pound_

 

“Lance! Open the fucking door!” Huh, it did sound like Keith, like he was mad or something. _What a surprise_. Well, couldn't blame him, I’d be mad at me, too. 

 

I averted my gaze from the door, pretending I didn’t hear the loud clambering echoing in the room, pretending like the person on the other side wasn't my boyfriend. Keith had no tug and pull on me, he knew how much I looked forward to this day. _Not_.

 

The pounding on the door stopped. Did he give up on me? Already!? The nerve of that guy. And to think, my boyfriend, deciding to give up on me after only a few measly knocks on the door. I oughta- I sat up, sweeping my layered shirt sleeves up to my elbows in a pissy fit. I didn’t care about the wrinkles, this was Keith’s favorite red and black checkered shirt, he’ll have to tolerate it, I wanted to look my part while we sung our songs. 

 

I waited a couple beats, just to see if he would try again, but no bait. Fuck him. “Keith, you motherfuck- mmph!” I was met with familiar soft lips pressed hard against my own, hands bunching into my sweaty hair. I didn’t have time to gel it up all nice and flowy for the talent show, as I was too busy making out with the can earlier today. 

 

“Score, my plan worked.” Keith cheered, looking like a hot-ass rockstar when we parted our lip-locking. 

 

I took a closer look at him, forgetting that he had schemed my raging-bull exit. He was wearing those skin-tight black skinny jeans that were always a nightmare to tear off whenever I wanted to show him my appreciation. A black and white striped sweater and an _Iron Maiden_ t-shirt thrown over it. Hell, he looked so hot I didn’t know why I was felling nervous before I came here, but then- “Wait, are you wearing...babe, is that eyeliner!?” 

 

Yeah, my nerves had suddenly dissolved the moment I caught my boyfriend costuming a fucking _My Chemical Romanc_ _e_ getup, which I had no complaint to write down about, rather, I’d like to file a complaint of why we couldn’t ditch this whole facade of us being pretend rockstars. I seriously didn’t want to be a _Nickelback_ song at the moment. Not while Keith was looking _this_ yummy. 

 

Keith’s cheeks were lighting up like a fucking stop sign. Damn it, “Fuck, you look so cute when you blush. How about some sugar, for your sugar?” I tried to lean in, but he brusquely slammed a hand in my face. “Baaabe!” I whined, but I knew what was coming. 

 

It never came. The lecture. No, instead, he tugged at my hand and started dragging me towards the auditorium like I was Kosmo barking wildly at some other animal. “Come on, we’re on in ten minutes!” Keith lugged me after him, but I felt my legs halting with such a nauseating force it made Keith almost fall on his ass. 

 

“Lance!?” He stopped up, raising one of those perfectly formed bushy brows. His brow-raising game had gotten to a whole other level after we started dating. He was so judgemental of me, probably because he loved me too much and cared too much for my well-being. 

 

My legs unbolted from the floor, understanding dawning on me while I lifted one red converse after the other, and to that, Keith bloomed his perfect red lips into a half circle of perfection, “Sorry for being so harsh, but we don’t have time to fight or discuss things. We just gotta make do, right babe?” He kept that smile peeled for me, grabbing my hand in his, motivating my long strides grow longer as we neared the auditorium. 

 

Quiet was not of my nature, but during this moment while walking hand in hand towards the auditorium, the lights rubbing off their heat all over my body making me sweat and stink even more, I knew that it was leap. A new leap to take in my life. Keith took a leap, many leaps really, that show-off. So, now it was my turn. My turn take a new leap. I did with my parents, and that was a shit-show of a bust, but with this, I knew I could step up and prove at least to myself, what I had to offer. Be it my voice; the voice of an angel Abuela used to tell me. 

 

We stood outside the door to the auditorium, “Holy shit, blast from the past, ammiright, babe?” I was hinting at when Keith was nervous for holding his speech for why he should become school president, and how I had calmed him. 

 

Keith was standing in front of me, just like that time. Mental images of that day revealed themselves to me. It felt like a lifetime ago, like time had been standing still since then and we hadn’t grown a thing, but at the same time, we'd grown so much in just a few months. 

 

Like who would have thought that the school’s golden boy and it’s deadbeat delinquent would cross paths and fall in love. I kinda knew, but let’s not compare sizes. “We’re really doing this?” I asked nervously, my voice quivered so much like I was such a loser. 

 

Almost as if he read my mind, Keith chuckled. That soft, cute one. A sound that knew how to keep my heart at a steady pace, but keep it beating all the same like it was hanging by a loose thread, “Yeah, of course. I knew you’d try to bail on us, that’s just like you. You fucking drama-queen.” He shoved my shoulder a bit, snickering all cute before he tugged at the back of my neck and landed a nice loving peck on my lips. 

 

It was the antidote I needed. Which I found ironic as he would always be my drug. 

 

His lips kept pressed against mine, allowing our kiss to linger for a while, deepening it into a nice dance of hungry tongues. But, in time, we knew it was curtain call. Cue butterflies, “If it becomes too much for me, can I please make like Cinderella and run off the stage?” 

 

“No.”

 

“Can I barf then, if I get queasy?” 

 

“Out of the question, you knob. And you won’t get queasy ‘cause you’ll be having way too much fun doing what you love, what you’re good at. You’ll be showing off your talent, Lance. People need to hear that awesome voice of yours. I’m lucky I get to hear it, but I feel the need to share it. Kay?” Keith was soothing me by gently caressing his knuckles along my cheek. It was the best feeling in the world, honestly, and it was working, like a net came out of nowhere catching all of those flapping critters in my gut. 

 

“Kay.” I breathed from the back of my throat, noticing that my voice was clearing up. Singing might not become a problem after all, despite screaming at my reflection like I was Mulan. Ruby would have loved that, I thought for a second, shaking my head by being all delusional and following Keith into the room behind the curtain that called the shots of how the next thirty minutes was going to play out. 

 

Keith turned around quickly, smiling like crazy almost as if he had won the lottery. Although, we all knew he did, have you met his boyfriend? “What?” I furrowed my brows at him. There were sweat beads running down from my forehead. Was I getting nervous again; _abort, abort!_  

 

“I almost forgot, I have a present for you! It is Valentine’s day after all, boo.” He pecked me on the tip of my nose, but continued into the room waving at the guys. 

 

“Gift? Keith, what kind of gift!? Hey, don’t just leave things on a cliffhanger like that! People don’t like that, babe!?” I marched on over to him, catching Pidge, Hunk and Bossman getting their instruments ready along with Keith chatting away like I had become the ghost of Christmas past. The nerve. 

 

All that was quickly washed away when my gazed hooked onto the microphone stand. Two, there were two microphone stands, which made me rest a bit easier, although the mini heart attack I almost had told me that maybe I should just make a run for it after all. 

 

“Don’t you fucking think about it, Lance. We’ve come this far, just a little more.” 

 

I scrunched my nose at him, the urge to flip him off tingling like crazy in the tip of my middle finger. “Lance!” Pidge anchored my attention, “We got this! The songs are crazy good, and when you start singing, you’re going to forget where you are, what you’re really doing. You’ll be so caught up in the moment, the moment will pass by as fast as a bolt of lightning.” 

 

Her words of encouragement helped a little. All the jittery nerves I had bottled up inside me were calmly being poured out, streaming out like a river that had no existing current. I got this, sure, I got this. Easy-peasy, lemon-squeezy, isn’t that what the pros usually say? 

 

Keith's face was calm too, mirroring the others, except for Bossman, he was usually always locked on angry. Him and the Hulk would probably make good friends. “Hunk, my man, my bro, buddy-” I made my way over to him, he was usually more unstable than I was in any situation, so maybe his jacked-up nerves would keep me calm and steady before the moment of truth unveiled itself to us. 

 

“I am so pumped, dude!” Hunk beamed, thrumming his bass, his fingers gliding across the strings, the vibrations tapping into my rickety blood-vessels. 

 

My eyes went wide in shock, “You’re not nervous!? _You,_ are not nervous? Have we entered a different reality? Is this a higher force telling us that our God is a lie, that there may be a tear in the universe and our other selves are living the best life ever in different realities? Maybe our buddy-cop space ranger thing really is a thing, babe?” 

 

“Stop being stupid, Lance and get ready! The curtains open in less than a minute!” 

 

Keith wasn’t usually this persistent with me, unless it was something more into the territory of Lancey-Lance and a whole tub filled with my sugar-loving. “Yeah, fine, I’m coming. But, I’m not letting that buddy-cop idea slide, it might be true.” 

 

There was sudden glint in his eyes, almost like he knew something I didn’t know and that maybe it really did involve something to do with space and cops. But, there wasn’t time to fondle on that, it was curtain call time. And I had two seconds to bolt. 

 

Kidding. I was so kidding, because there wasn’t- first of all, there wasn’t time to bolt and second, jumping off the stage like an asshole was my only option of escape, and no way was I going to do that to Keith. 

 

Heat from the lights on the ceiling seared onto my skin, threatening my bodily fluids to protrude out of me, either in the form of vomit or sweat, I wasn’t quite sure which of them yet. I was praying for the latter. Praying desperately. 

 

Darkness enfolded the audience, I could hardly make out a single face, and it was all so relieving as I took a deep breath in, zen-ing it up with my mind, calming down before Keith thudded the mic. with his finger. To my surprise, Keith made an odd face while the microphone whined. Indigo shot into black, his brows raised high, but only for a second, then rested back down to their normal state. Odd, did he someone he knew in the crowd? I wished I could have read his mind in that moment to help him, because he looked like someone had shot him. 

 

His voice pulled me out of my thoughts, “Hi, everyone! I’m Keith- er- Kogane, I’m Keith Kogane, and with me is Pidge Holt, Hunk Garrott, Lotor von Gal and last of all, our loverboy himself, Lance McClain. Our contribution to the talent show is to sing a few songs. Hope-” He swallowed, his anxiety hastily peeking through, “Hope you guys enjoy the show.” 

 

Then Pidge started playing. Only her, as this song was a calm one. Collected. Almost acoustic, to say it like that. 

 

Keith started singing first, 

 

_Full of despair, inside a darkness_

_Self conscious and scared held prisoner of war_

_Running out of air, buried in a sadness_

_Want a way out of this paralyzing world_

_And the sounds of the cries when a family's loved one dies_

_It echoes through a vacant room where a young soul still resides_

 

My song. I wrote this, and Keith was singing it in front of an auditorium filled with all of Garrison Prep, with all of their family and friends. With Adam, Shiro and Ruby, and Miss Allura in the crowd, too. 

 

Was my family here? They wouldn’t have known about this. I hadn’t seen them in a month. They had probably already cut me deep out of their life. Their useless, bisexual son who’s dating a boy. A boy he loves. Dearly. And they couldn’t accept that. My love for Keith. 

 

It was my turn to sing, and all the emotion from the past month I had bottled up. Locked away. It all came rushing out like a dam being broken. 

 

_When the night is cold and you feel like no one knows_

_What it's like to be the only one buried in this hole_

 

Two lines, I sang, and I could feel my whole self lifting. Relief washing over me like a fresh, cool wave. 

 

Keith sang with me now. Just like we did in the music room that day. Serene, perfect, no one convulsing from epilepsy this time. Just us, our friends and the music threading our souls into one. 

 

_You can make it to the sunrise (whoa)_

_You can make it to the sunrise (whoa)_

  
  


_Searching for a way to escape the madness_

_A dire need for change as we fight for better days_

_The hurt and the pain cut deep like a razor blade_

 

I could feel tears racing down my face. Taste their saltiness hit my tongue as I kept on singing, pouring my heart and soul out into the form of a song. Witness me. See me; _mamá, papá, Ronnie_. Love me, hear me. 

 

Forgive me. _Please._

 

Allow me to love the one I love. Because I wouldn't love anyone else till I let out my very last breath on this planet. 

 

 _Holding in a cry for love,_ I sang

 _Abandoned and afraid,_ Keith sang, his voice so beautiful, I was falling in love with him all over again.

 

 _When the night is cold and you feel like no one knows_ _  
_ _What it's like to be the only one buried in this hole_

 _You can make it to the sunrise (whoa)_ _  
_ _You can make it to the sunrise (whoa)_

 

We sang and sang, in a sweet harmonious melody. Our voices raw, filled to the brim with emotion. Releasing all the tension and fight we’ve had ever since our lives entwined like a needle to a thread. Like a needle trembling in a compass going still. Leaping, and leaping, and leaping. 

Everything was going by so smoothly, Pidge was right. She was so right. I ignored the scorching lights blazing on my skin. I ignored the crowd in the audience, ignored wondering if my parents were watching me, listening to me. Ignored them all when Keith and I met eyes, and my heart beat so fast I ignored everything, and just sang.  

 

_I won't go to my grave until a difference is made_

_I won't go to my grave until a difference is made, until a difference is made_

 

More and more tears kept on trickling down my face. Faster, faster, more and more, they fell down into droplets splashing on the floor, dark spots marking all around my feet. My emotions, in the form of hot tears. In the form of my voice running out raw from my throat. I’d sing, and continue to sing until someone saw fit to wrap their hands around my throat and squeeze with everything they got. But until then, I’d sing. And I’d make them listen. To every last single word I had to say. 

 

_When the night is cold and you feel like no one knows_

_What it's like to be the only one buried in this hole_

 

_You can make it to the sunrise (whoa)_

_You can make it to the sunrise (whoa)_

 

_I won't go to my grave_

_From time to time, there arise among human beings, people,_

_Who seem to exude love, as naturally as the sun, gives out heat_

 

Listen to me. To us.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed this chapter - thank you for your kudos and comments <33
> 
> (Sorry for mistakes)


	68. Forgiveness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Songs used  
> End of the Earth - Marina  
> Broken Lives - Our last night 
> 
>  
> 
> Got another chapter written! I've been looking so much forward to write the talent show chapters, so hope it lived up to any expectations. The remaining chapters will mostly be fun or guilty pleasure chapters on my end, but there are a couple angsty chapters coming. (fair warning) 
> 
> But damn, I realized that we're so close to the end.

Packed. The whole auditorium was packed to the brim with the students of GP. Not only the students we knew well and hardly knew at all, but I knew out in that folded darkness, there were parents, friends and the faculty of GP enjoying the talent show as well. Adam was out there somewhere too, probably up in the corner spectating the whole thing, as was Shiro and Ruby, they were probably sitting close by the exit in case Ruby had to go potty, that would be just like her. 

 

My mind was blank, blank as a piece of crisp white paper when I stared out at the crowd after we finished our first song. Butterflies were swimming in my stomach when we reached the last two lines of Lance’s song, and the sound of his voice; his beautiful, perfect melodic voice flowing into my eardrums, were...well, they were like music to my ears. 

 

He did it. The smug-ass delinquent who had been grudging this day for the past month and a half, who thought he couldn’t even open his mouth in front of an actual live audience and sing a three minute song, but could talk someone’s ear out about his love for Britney Spears without a second thought. This boy, - my fucking boyfriend- he did it. He actually pulled it off. When I stared to the side, catching him having a blast on stage while he sang his song, I knew I did the right thing. I knew being a sadistic ass back at him would be the only way to get him up here on this stage so that he could finally pour his heart and soul out into the song he wrote. The lyrics that were written from the bottom of his heartspace, to tell the people he loved, the people he wanted to love him, that he was hurting, but he could run past that hurt, as long as he had song. As long, from what I would like to think at times, as long as he had me. 

 

My ears might have gone deaf, as I was staring out at the crowd, trying to focus on whom I thought I saw earlier; black, long curls and piercing indigo eyes, eyes that resembled my own. But, I think I was just dreaming, I was seeing things. Things I didn’t want to see. 

 

Through the temporary deafness of my ears, I noticed hands moving, slapping hard at their palms. Applause. They were applauding us. My lips spread from ear to ear, and I tried to find Shiro or Adam in the audience, but the lights from the stage were burning my retinas, so instead, my gaze landed on the sun. 

 

And the sun was drenched in sweat. But he was happy, his smile touching his own gorgeous face from ear to ear. I reached my hand out to him, my ears still bleeding deafness and not grasping the continuous applauding of the crowd before us. His hand was warm, also turned into a puddle when he grabbed me, linking our fingers perfectly. We shared a look. Those green specks, they floated all over the place. He didn’t look relieved, he actually looked happy. Proud. Proud of himself, like he should be, because he was killer on stage. His heavenly sounded voice reached everyone, and no one had decided to stop their clapping. 

 

_Proud of you, babe._ I mouthed the words to him as the sound of everyone’s cheering and clapping were too loud and finally turned audible to me when I wanted to scream out loud that I loved him too. I’ll get my chance. 

 

“Hate to ruin a moment, and also, you guys need to tone down the ogling or else get a room-” Pidge’s voice wasn’t hard to make out in the loud commotion, her voice would always find a path through any ruckus. 

 

We craned our necks, still holding hands as we caught our friends smiling at us, except Pidge, who was looking nothing more than impatient. “Right. You’re right, sorry Pidge! We still got a couple more songs to play.” I yelled back, my smile still spread wide, but faltered when I caught Lance’s confused look. 

 

“A couple!? Babe, we only planned two songs, right? Or did I not get the memo and this is you guys' way of revenge for me acting like a big baby these past few weeks.” Lance narrowed those vibrant blue eyes at the gang, then directed them at me, splashing a fatal wave at my face, but I laughed him off. 

 

In that moment, with the auditorium still viewing us. All of GP, their families and my Dads staring at us bickering, I grabbed the back of Lance’s neck and pulled him in, kissing him. One fast peck on his peachy-so fucking soft- lips. I needed everyone to know how much he meant to me, and prove to him how proud I was of him finally facing his fears. “I'm singing this one, babe. For you.” I whispered when our lips parted. 

 

“What? You’re going to sing me a song?” Lance asked, but the whole auditorium caught up on that as he managed to ask through the microphone in front of him, and yeah, it wasn’t turned off. 

 

I made a low groan at his accidental outburst through the microphone, and landed a featherlight kiss on his cheek, booping his nose with my lips at the same time, then stepped up to my microphone stand while I looked out at the audience who had finally died down their booming applause. 

 

Guess, I’ll get to it.

 

_ “Keeeeith!” _

 

_ “Yeah, Kogane! Get’em!” _

 

_ “Come on, Golden Boy! You got this!”  _

 

_ “Keeeefy! Show your mans what you got!”  _

 

The random shouting from my friends, to be clear, that last shout was definitely from Ezor since she took the opportunity to run towards the stage and holler out at us then run back to her row where she sat next to Acxa, James, Ryan, Carol, Lacey, and lastly Zethrid, Ezor’s girlfriend. The whole gang sat at the second row giving us thumbs up and whooping cheers still while they also continued with their loud, and very annoying, hollers of my name. _What are friends for, ammiright?_

 

Seemed like they were the only people I could make out from the audience, dissecting the rows on rows, but there- I spotted them. They came. They actually came after a lot of tug and pull, maybe Adam had something to do with them coming, but hopefully, we’ll figure it all out once our segment was finished. There were still three more acts after us, and we were only given tops twenty minutes to perform our songs. 

 

I cleared my throat in the microphone, grabbing everyone’s attention for a second time. Lance was still sporting that curious look, his thin brows raised high, his upturned nose splattered in freckles that were shining like stars underneath the hot stage lights. Damn, I wanted nothing than to be done with this segment and run off the stage with him and drag him into the music room, but-  “That was  _ Sunrise _ written by our very own Lance McClain, performed by him and I. Thank you all for listening, for listening to the words that Lance used so much time and effort on perfecting. His song is important to him, to me and I hope the words reached all of you.” I swallowed, feeling a sense of nevrosity finally taking over me. 

 

Lance could read me, my shaking state, hooking my attention with a single finger gently stroking my loose pinky. Damn, all it took to regain my composure was one simple touch by the boy I love. I smiled softly, raising my eyes up at the crowd again, “Lance McClain-” I said his name with so much endearment and affection, everyone had their eyes directed at me, then at Lance, who had his brows furrowed at me, but his look was also soft, head tilted slightly to the side as a curious cat. 

 

“I love you.” I finally said, catching those blue eyes grow wide. Wider than any sea you could find on this planet. Expanding so much more than the universe could extend itself. My love for him was everlasting, stretching and stretching far into the depths, more than the universe could hold. 

 

Hard to keep it in, I sent out a low chuckle as his expression was still unmistakable priceless. “I love you so much, Lance McClain. You have done so much for me ever since we started hating each other. Yeah, you’re stubborn, you’re loud, obnoxious and have more confidence than the queen of England-” My speech was kind of pissing him off, which was the inteniton because he was looking undeniably adorable with that fat pout jutting from his tasty mouth, -”But- I’m not done, we’re getting to the good part, I promise-”

 

“I thought that was the good part!?” Pidge interjected, causing a loud laugh from the audience. 

 

“ _Funny_ , Pidge. Lance are all of these things, they are of his essence yeah, cause that was the Lance we got to know and love, but he has other qualities too, so many amazing qualities and _y’all_ need to hear them before I show you, show them, how much you mean to me. How much I love you. You fucking delinquent.” 

 

“Keith! Language, we’re still at a school!” There was Adam. His shout came from the top corner of the auditorium, his glasses glinted from the exit sign above him, but his smile grew into his evil anime persona, his previous delinquent self projecting from him. He was proud of me, of Lance, no doubt about that. 

 

“Sorry...Dad.” I smacked my lips a couple times before I went on, “Lance has the biggest heart out there. No one’s heart could compare in size or in emotion. He’s been there for me since day one, even when I hated him with all my might. No matter how much I wanted him out of my way, out of my life. But, he kept on interrupting me, kept on barging and wiggling his way into my life. He took my friends, took my dads and my little sister, and lastly and most important of all, he took me. You took me and my heart, Lance. And I thank you for that. You’ve shined a light on me, keeping the darkness away and this is my way of saying thank you. Keep on shining that light, Lance McClain. Also, as a Valentine’s gift- I love you. I love you, I love you, I love you. This song is dedicated to you.” 

 

I took a deep breath in, preparing my vocals to sing. Before I started, I anchored a look on Lance. He was staring at me, with water-filled eyes, streaks of tears creating cracks on his tan, blemished free skin. I cracked a half gin at him, then sang.

 

> **_Love_ ** _ can never be what you want it to be _ _   
>  _ _ But I'd still follow you down _ _   
>  _ _ Slow motion, no sound _ _   
>  _ _ To the edge of the world _ _   
>  _ __ Hmm, tell me why do we fight?

As I sang, I saw Lance mouthed the name  _ Marina _ , and his eyes welled again. He was making me cry now while I kept on singing. This was his second favorite song by Marina. His first favorite was Handmade Heaven, but the lyrics to thing song; they described perfectly my love for Lance. His favorite artist, sung by his boyfriend, this had to be the perfect gift. He would have to say that he loved me now. He couldn’t keep our competition in motion, this was gonna pull the big L word out of that impeccable shaped mouth. 

> _ We're all living in the same universe _ _   
>  _ _ Where the stars collide as the planets turn _ _   
>  _ _ But I'll give my love, I don't care if it hurts _ _   
>  _ _ 'Cause I'll love you 'till the end _ _   
>  _ _ I'll love you till the end of the earth _ _   
>  _ _ Do you ever think how this life could've been? _ _   
>  _ _ If you never took the chance, a leap of faith and dance _ _   
>  _ _ With losing it all _ _   
>  _ _ So just wait, wait for me _ _   
>  _ _ We're all living in the same universe _ _   
>  _ _ Where the stars collide as the planets turn _ _   
>  _ _ But I'll give my love, I don't care if it hurts _ _   
>  _ _ 'Cause I'll love you 'till the end _ _   
>  _ _ If we're torn apart then I won't let go _ _   
>  _ _ 'Cause wherever we are, it feels like home _ _   
>  _ _ And I'll love you 'till the end _ _   
>  _ __ I'll love you 'till the end

 

Lance suddenly jumped into the song. Singing the last lines of the song together with me. Perfect, this whole thing, I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day. He wasn’t hurling, and it felt so relaxing and relieving knowing that he wasn’t going to jump off that stage and race to the nearest restroom to empty out his doubts and insecurities, but instead prove to the world how strong he truly was. 

> _ I'll love you 'till the end, _ Lance stared at me and only me when he sang, his voice causing the tips of my toes to flare in heat sending that nice warmth up along my calves, my thighs, my abdomen, all the way up to the tips of my ears. My heart was pounding, and pounding when his voice went low, scratching almost into a sob from the back of his throat as the lyrics dented into his heart. Into my heart. 
> 
> _ But I'll give my love, I don't care if it hurts (End of the, end of the, end of the) _ _   
>  _ _ 'Cause I'll love you 'till the end of the earth (End of the, end of the, end of the) _
> 
>  

Once the song ended, Lance reeled me into his space and covered my whole entired being with his love. His mouth found mine and we started making out right there on the stage, forgetting that the world existed, forgetting that Pidge was trying to bring us back to reality. 

“Guys!! Keep it in your pants, and wait till the next song is over! We ain’t got much time left since Keith always has to be such a sappy sap!” 

 

We were still kissing, but Pidge’s incoming bomb separated us, barely. Our foreheads touched, our smiles only shared for each other. “Thank you, Mullet.  _ Te amo. _ ” 

“No, Lance! That’s not what you’re supposed to say!” My forehead went red hot, hoping that it sizzled the skin on Lance’s forehead into a third degree burn. 

But the asshole just stuck his tongue out and grabbed his microphone, “Hello GP! You all ready to rock!?” He had morphed into a whole other person. Fired up, confident, he wasn’t near the same shaky, scared Lance he was when I found him in the music room thirty minutes ago. 

There wasn’t time to pound on him as he riffed his guitar sending the riffs into a doppler effect into Pidge as she riffed her guitar, Lotor hitting his sticks shouting “Three, two, one!” And Hunk was a go on the bass. 

The gang was all ready, set, go, but was I? 

Fuck, I wasn’t prepared when Lance already started singing his bit. He sounded so, so good. Raspy, gruff, low and harmonious, his voice. All I wanted to do was just listen to him, but I had to cut in with my screaming. 

 

> _ Open your eyes and it'll make it easier to fight _ _   
>  _ _ Through the dark times, the dark times _ _   
>  _ _ Hold the light and it'll make it easier to shine _ _   
>  _ __ Through the dark times, the dark times

 

> _ I remember a time when I was young and blind _ _   
>  _ _ Couldn't take the fall from anything at all _ _   
>  _ _ I blamed it on everybody else _ _   
>  _ __ (I blamed it on everybody else)

When my screamo parts ended, I had to sing my verse. 

> _ Like the New World Order, the Illuminati _ _   
>  _ _ As long as it wasn't me _ _   
>  _ _ I was afraid of the mirror, of what I would see _ _   
>  _ __ I didn't wanna see me

The lyrics were so good. So real. Both Lance and I had written them, based them on our lives, how the darkness can easily encapsulate us and keep us hidden in a bubble that never gave in to its pop. But, with our fight and might, we could break through that bubble, let out the darkness as it screams once the light touches it. 

> _ Open your eyes and it'll make it easier to fight _ _   
>  _ _ Through the dark times, the dark times _ _   
>  _ _ Hold the light and it'll make it easier to shine _ _   
>  _ __ Through the dark times, the dark times

Our lives may be broken. Me with my mother and losing my father. Lance with his sexual identity and his parents not acknowledging him, but together we fought it. We kept on fighting it. As long as we were together. We would fight the darkness with our light. 

> _ If the sky is always raining black _ _   
>  _ _ If the world is always stabbing you in the back _ _   
>  _ _ Open your eyes and you will find _ _   
>  _ _ That we all live broken lives _ _   
>  _ __ We all live broken lives
> 
> _ I was envious of, other people's love _ _   
>  _ _ Hung up on why, I didn't have their lives _ _   
>  _ _ I blamed it on everybody else _ _   
>  _ __ (I blamed it on everybody)

I did blame it on everybody. Everyone living their lives perfectly, an open smile, the light on their faces so real, so full of love. Then you had me, trying hard to find love, to understand that I was and had always been loved by my fathers, but not in the way I wanted to be loved. Not in the way I wished my mother would love me. But, Lance helped me find that. He helped me understand that despite my life being broken, shattered into a million pieces. He helped me along the way, picking up every single last bit of those million pieces. Helped put my broken self back together. Even if I wasn’t a hundred percent back, I was on my way and better than I ever had been. Thanks for Lance. For opening my eyes. Understanding. That not only I, but we all, all of us have something shattered inside of us that makes us live broken lives and all we had to do was gain that strength to open our eyes, and see. 

> _ Like corrupt politicians or the shitty economy _ _   
>  _ _ As long as it wasn't me _ _   
>  _ _ One day I lifted my head and looked into the mirror _ _   
>  _ __ I was staring at me
> 
> _ Open your eyes and it'll make it easier to fight _ _   
>  _ _ Through the dark times, the dark times _ _   
>  _ _ Hold the light and it'll make it easier to shine _ _   
>  _ _ Through the dark times, the dark times _ __   
>    
> 
> 
> _ If the sky is always raining black _ _   
>  _ _ If the world is always stabbing you in the back _ _   
>  _ _ Open your eyes and you will find _ _   
>  _ __ That we all live broken lives
> 
> _ We all live broken lives _
> 
> _ Remember we all go down in flames _ _   
>  _ _ We fell to live up to invincible mains _ _   
>  _ _ Without a heart and stuck in our minds _
> 
> _ We can't forget how we all live broken lives _

I held on to the syllable with a long screamo, pushing and pushing through my throat with all the emotion I had. I saw her face, similar to mine. I shared her genes, I knew she was a part of me, but she was also part of that darkness that fogged up my heart, that turned my life into a broken mess. She was the cause of the rain raining black on me. 

Holding and holding, the music stopped playing, Lance’s voice went still. Everyone went still as I spilled over the darkness from my heart out into the open, wishing, pleading that it would all disintegrate, finally, into the light and evaporate. All I wanted from this point on, was the light. I wanted nothing else than to keep my life intact, with Lance by my side, with my friends and family there to help me. Help me, help them, we all help each other. 

My knees gave out when my throat tapped out, calling for a yield. I fell on the floor, knees catching the floor for me with a thunk, and Lance immediately at my side, his hands, one on my back, the other brushing away my sweaty bangs. “Keith!? Babe, are you alright?” 

He was also on his knees now, both of his hands shaping my face. Thumbs calloused from the guitar strings brushing my cheekbones, caressing me lightly. It felt good. Lance always felt good. I smiled, then choked out a sob at him as my forehead fell onto his chest. 

Our little moment was interrupted when the school, the whole room boomed into a loud applause and cheers. WIth my head still buried on Lance’s chest, I swung to the side and caught Adam running down from the aisle and hopping onto the stage. He helped me up, I didn’t know I was so out of breath but singing that long a tune really does make you winded. 

“Amazing job, boys.” 

Pidge cleared her throat. “Pidge.” Adam nodded at her. 

 

Adam grabbed the microphone, “That was-” He stared at us, asking if we had a band name. 

“The Cupcakes!” Hunk jeered, but we all hit him with an incredulous look, but I was too famished from the singing that we all just went along with it. 

As ridiculous as it sounded, Adam cracked a grin at the name then continued, “The Cupcakes! Ladies and gentlemen, faculty and students, let’s give The Cupcakes-” He couldn’t keep a straight face, but pulled through, “a new round of applause. Next up we have James Connolly doing stand-up, and after that we have the cheerleaders doing a segment and we’ll end it with a martial arts act by Lacey Perkins! We’ll take a ten minute break until we see the last segments, hope you all have had a nice evening so far. Get some refreshments! Again, thank you, Cupcakes!” 

He just had to try and put our band name in there one more time. “Adam...you didn’t have to say our band name so many times. It’s not even our official name!” I scrambled at him while I had my arm around Lance’s shoulder. I was still weak from the heavy, warm lights drying away all my energy. 

Adam just laughed in my face, “C’mon, son! The Cupcakes...classic. You should thank Hunk, he saved all your butts or else I was ready to call you guys The Care Bears or something like that.”

“I actually like that name.” Lance shot in, but I knew he was just saying that to win points from my dad. 

“Stop lying you idiot and go buy me some nachos.”  

“Ohh, nachos sounds awesome.” Hunk pulled in, he was licking his lips definitely thinking about the nachos he was about to devour whole once he got them. “Sorry I bulldozered over our band name, I was really keen on cupcakes in that moment and saw the chance and went with it. We can change it-”

“No use, Hunk. The whole school heard it. We are as of this day forth, The Cupcakes.” I smiled at him, letting him know that it wasn’t a dumb name. Just a name that’ll get me hungry every time someone refers to us by that name. 

Lotor stepped forth, his look somewhat sick, “Wait, so we’re actually going to call ourselves The Cupcakes? Is that even allowed?” 

Lance slapped Lotor’s back, “C’mon boss, don’t be such a dick. We have enough assholes in this band. Me, I take up more dick-space than anyone of us here. Just go along with it. What’s worse? Complaining about our band name, or having Hunk crying for ten long years because you made him sad?” 

Contemplation covered the Boss’ face, and it was kind of adorable to look at, but before I could interject with my own joke at him I felt a warm hand carefully tapping my shoulder. Lance’s face went white in horror before I could turn around and catch who the hand belonged to. 

Pidge, Hunk and Lotor scrammed from the back of the stage shouting that they were getting refreshments. But, I knew it was to avoid another bomb going off now that Lance’s mamá and papá were standing behind us. 

“Mamá?” Lance made a heavy step forward, towards his mamá, “Papá?” He turned his gaze to his papá. Ronnie was nowhere to be seen, she was probably at school, or, hadn’t come home yet since she lives an hour away. 

His mamá made a soft smile, holding her hand out. To me. “Mrs. McClain?” I swallowed all the courage I had in me. The last time I talked to her was when I threw alot of hurtful words her way when she wouldn’t accept Lance dating me. 

She shook her head, her eyes, Lance’s eyes, filling up with tears. She blinked, a couple beads of tears falling out, dropping down to the floor, “Ayy, querido. I-” She grabbed Lance’s hand. He was hesitant at first, backing his hand away from her, but after another thought, he let her hold him, “I’m so sorry for my behavior…” 

“Mamá?” Lance didn’t know what else to day, it seemed. He was speechless for once in his life. His cheeks had blazed a warm maroon color, a query taking over his expression, “What- what are you guys doing here? I thought- aren’t you guys? You guys hate me…” 

Lance’s mamá dropped my hand and pulled her son into the deepest of a loving hug. She was practically suffocating her son, more tears tracking down her tanned face. “Ayy, Lancey. My Lancey. I could never hate you. I was conflicted...about your love for this boy. That you even liked boys. I’m sorry, amor. It was too much to take in. Not once in our family has someone wanted to share their heart with the same gender...and here you were, my son, and you wanted to share your heart with..” She took my hand again, “With Keith. I’m sorry, I didn’t see it until now. How much the two of you love each other. How much pain you were going through. You and Keith.” 

“So, you’re accepting us? Me and Lance as a couple. You’re recognizing our love for each other?” I asked her, keeping her hand gripped fast into mine. 

 

“Ay, querido. It’s going to take some getting used to, but we see how much our Lancey loves you, and you him. Can you ever forgive us?” Her eyes bore into me with sincerity. She had the same blue-green eyes as Lance, hers reminding me more and more of a beautiful ocean, my ocean. 

 

I was over being mad, I was over being frustrated with all of this drama between Lance and his parents. They were opening up to his sexuality. It did take some time, but shorter than anticipated, which was good. Lance may never find it in his heart to fully forgive them, but I never forgave my mom, and look where that got me. 

 

My eyes went to Lance who had found himself comfortable in his mamá’s arms. Next to him I found Adam, he was smiling too, moving towards me, gripping my shoulders like a proud father. “Keith and I are so glad you could come Mrs. McClain, Mr. McClain.” He nodded his brown head at Lance’s parents. 

 

Her question lingered in me while Adam explained to me and Lance how he was able to convince his parents to come see Lance sing. There was that too, would they accept Lance’s love for singing now? So much on a tiny plate, and we had only five more minutes to eat it clean before the next segment started on stage. Whatever, it was Jimmy Connelly, he wouldn't even get a goat to bleat with his humor. 

“Keith?” Lance waved a hand in my face dragging me out of my trail of thoughts. 

 

Still cradled in his mother’s arms, his father gripping his son’s shoulder like Adam was gripping mine. I could see it. The love. The forgiveness in their eyes. His mamá loved Lance with all of her heart, and if she was willing to warm up to our relationship, then so be it. I’ll accept that. I couldn't forgive my own mother, but this could be a start. Time to start showing that forgiveness could be the right way to go. 

“I forgive you. I love your son so much, Mrs. McClain. He’s the best thing to ever happen to me, and I promise to never disappoint him, to never hurt him, to always love him with all of my heart and more.” I declared, feeling Adam’s fingers digging deeper into my shoulder. Was he shaking, too? 

 

There was a choked sob leaving Mrs. McClain’s throat as I said the words. She let go of her son, opening her arms to me. I tipped my head up at Adam, earning an appreciated smile from my dad, and took the opportunity to stroke her soft, thick hair and hug her. Hug her like one should hug their own mother. “Thank you, Mrs. McClain. Thank you for letting me love him.” 

 

She sniffed, then pulled back to look at me, stroking away my thick bangs. “Ay, querido. Thank  _ you _ .” 

 

And we both ended up smiling to each other, her face tear streaked with happiness and my eyes glazed with love for our favorite person. 

 

“Sorry to interrupt this touching moment. But this boy needs some loving, too.” We both heard Lance’s voice and turned our direction to him, our smiles widening at the sight of him. 

 

Our favorite person. Lighting up the world.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mistakes will be fixed once i notice them, lol. Kudos and comments are always a pleasure, but thanks for reading!!


	69. Condom

“Hurry, they might be back any minute now, babe!” I hurried Lance as we gathered our clothes from the floor that had been flung all over the place after we practically ransacked the room with our bodies hitting hard on every nook and cranny. 

 

Framed photos had fallen from the commode, that boobie monkey Lance got me for Christmas had found a nice spot in my trash, and don’t get me started on all my pens and markers playing hide and go seek, or, _hey look at me we’re everywhere!_ after Lance was so nice to bump his gorgeous ass on my desk. 

 

Wait, let me rephrase that last part. When he practically cleared off everything that was laying nicely placed and organized on my desk, and the golden devil had the audacity to swipe my perfect organizational skills all over my floor so that he could throw me on top and make out with me. Like, I have a bed for that. Still, not gonna complain one bit, it was pretty hot. Which, evidently, we finally landed on my bed and now we were making like the Flash and trying to get our clothes on in a superb haste. 

 

“Lance!”

 

“What!? I’m dressed, I’m dressed!” He said in a haste back at me, his chestnut soft locks all dishevelled and raked with by my hungry fingers, his neck freed from my starved lips, although I did leave my mark. Er- four marks to be exact. 

 

I made big eyes at my bed which he followed my gaze swinging his own head towards the bed. It had become this chaotic love nest the past hour, and his sea-green eyes grew wide like mine as he picked up on my hint. 

 

“Fuck, the condom. I got it, babe.” Lance cackled loudly, a little too loud which could easily draw attention to my dads who I know had come back home from their little shopping trip with Ruby. Trust me, I knew that any minute now, one of those two vultures would be up here to check on us and see if we were up to no good. 

 

We were plenty up to no good now that Lance didn’t live here anymore, and since we hardly see each other because exams are coming up, we took this opportunity to make a repeat of Valentine's day. 

 

Seriously, we hadn’t been intimate like this since then. Which was a month ago. Too long, way too fucking long in my opinion. This boy was hard to keep away from, what from his yummy neck and those plush peachy lips, now looking quite swollen after I sucked a little too hard on them during our overly friendliness of bumping heads. Okay, that sounded awful, but we had been studying before we did anything explicit, but once Shiro told us the good news that they were leaving for an hour, we just saw that open door and stepped in. Ran in, as fast as we fucking could. 

 

“Did you toss it?” 

 

“Where the hell do I toss it without them finding it!?” 

 

I groaned, dragging a gloved hand down my face, “Lance, just throw it in the trash, no one’s gonna inspect it like they’re fucking _Inspector Gadget_!” 

 

He eyed me, blue and green intermingling with distrust, but he sighed at last while waving the used condom. “Lance, gross! Don’t get it anywhere, we don’t want staining evidence while my dads come up here to lurk around!”

 

“Lurk around? Keith, they know we have sex. It’s the natural part of a relationship…” He contemplated that answer, looking like an adorable lemur, “Well, most of the time, there are people who don’t like sex, or kissing, or holding hands. They just don’t like human contact…”

 

He was going to say more, but I groaned even louder, in a boiled rage now for him to toss the goddamn condom before the door-

 

“Well then.” The door broke open. Metaphorically speaking, as Adam came in with his sadistic glinting glasses and that heinous smirk smeared all over his tanned face. 

 

In a rush, faster than I’d ever seen him, and the guy was a fast runner mind you, Lance tossed the condom and it hit the trash can. 3 pointer to Lance, I made an impressed face as the condom quickly fell into the depths of trash can before Adam even registered anything even being flown or flung in my room. 

 

“What’s with the mess? Did a tornado decide to only destroy your room, Keith?” Adam questioned, his tone one of inconspicuous suspicion. 

 

We’ve had the talk. Many a times, and each time I want to rip my head off and offer it for pumpkin scooping to become a jack-o-lantern, honestly. It was getting tiring. He knew we were sexually active, even knew that we were careful using condoms in case of STDs. Damn, this was getting so uncomfortable to think about and I didn’t know what to say or do now that all we did before he came up here was argue on what to do with a used condom. 

 

Kill me now, I thought staring Adam right in those hazel eyes drawing my mouth into a pleading thin line for him to just slack off on us for once. Just once. 

 

Adam wrinkled his nose. My room was stuffy due to my and Lance’s heated session before he came in. The windows were fogged up, Lance was almost still panting for loss of breath, as was I. 

 

Were we that obvious? Granted, we were that obvious before anyone even left the house, but still. We tried to clean up, no one just had the second thought in the back of their thick skull that the room might be a bit too sexed up to someone’s liking. 

 

“Honey? Did you tell them that din-”

 

Oh no, not Shiro too now. I closed my eyes, holding them down hard, wishing that he would just turn on his heel and fall down the stairs. Jesus almighty Christ, just let me have one day without any embarrassment, was that too damn much to ask for? 

 

“Someone really went all out-”

 

“Or all in.” Adam countered with an amused grin. He kept quiet, keeping more daunting retorts in the back of his throat, at least it looked like it. Hopefully, for my sake, so that if I one day have to make a big important speech, he’ll be allowed to be mentioned and not cut off from letting me dig this very deep hole beneath me that’ll grant me access to China if the flush rising on my neck grows even hotter. 

 

Lance’s neck was mirroring mine which got me even more flustered and scared they’d noticed the marks as their color were enhancing by the second growing more and more prominent in a darker color. They were basically screaming at my dads to have a nice look at them and rate their score at which mark had been best made by my lips. 

 

I got on my feet and pushed my way towards Adam and Shiro, hoping they’d avert their gazes from Lance who was looking all sheepish and caught in a corner by wild wolves. Could he be looking anymore guilty? We’ve done it so many times before in my room, why now of all times are we both acting so childish and guilty, like any second now someone’s going to throw us in the slammer by being responsible when sexually active. I mean, I’m eighteen, Lance’ll be eighteen this summer, can’t they just let us off the hook now. 

 

“My room looks like this because we were looking for my calculus book, and Lance loves to make a mess.” I grimaced thinking about what kind of mess he successfully made not that long ago. 

 

Lance’s groan echoed in my room, and Shiro and Adam pretty much got the memo as the whole room volcanoed in a fit of more realized groans. “Sorry,” Adam held an apologetic hand out at us, suffocating a laugh, it was so obvious on his face and his throat bobbing like crazy, “I just came in here to ask if you guys were hungry. Shiro and I bought pizza.” 

 

“Pizza, pizza, pizza! Hi, Lance!” Ruby ran in here screaming landing in Lance’s lap with a plop. 

 

“Hey, monkey! What there’s pizza? Let’s get our chow down!” Lance blasted Ruby out of his lap, grabbing her little hand and followed her down to the kitchen, leaving with a blue wink shooting my way as he knew he had gotten himself out of this awkward situation. Lucky bastard, I glared at him in zapping purple before he blew me a teasing kiss my way. 

 

Left alone in my room with my dads, who knew what was coming next. “So…” I dragged, “How about that pizza…” I tried to leave the room but felt a strong hand gripping my shoulder. 

 

“Keith, are you doing okay? We’ve hardly seen you this past month.” Shiro said, making a look of concern. 

 

He looked tired. The past few weeks had been rough at the station, coming home late, or hardly coming home at all. Adam missed him a lot. I knew that because he spent the past nights forcing me to watch Barbie movies with him and Ruby. He wasn’t going to be the only one under this roof being forced to see pink all night long, I had to be dragged into it too. 

 

Not that I was complaining, I loved it when Ruby went crazy about something. She was bubbly and cute all the time, but whenever she found a new fad to craze over, she got even more bubblier and cute. Except, now with this Barbie addiction, all she wanted was to do Adam’s hair, or put makeup on his face, and you could easily see the hate burning behind those hazel eyes. The perks of being a father of an almost 6 year old. 

 

“What do you mean? I’ve been here all this time...Adam, we’ve seen like all the Barbie movies these past few weeks. And Shiro..” I narrowed my gaze at Shiro, he mimicked me. I knew he could read my mind, thinking that I was going to mention how he’s been gone these past weeks and couldn’t complain as much as Adam. 

 

“You’ve been gone these past few weeks. You should be one to talk, Adam’s barely seen you!” I turned the tables on them, let’s see them wiggle their way out of this one. 

 

Adam started shaking his head. He was wearing his tie loosely, his elbow patched blazer halfway off his shoulders almost like he was ready for a cage fight. He looked tired too. We all were tired, ready for the school year to be over. 

 

“No. No, Keith. You don’t get to do that! We’re your dads, we want to know why you’ve been cooped up in your room all day..”

 

“Not all day!”

 

“Fine, once you walk through that door, you run up to your room and don’t come down until I literally drag you out of this room to spend quality time with your family. What’s up?” Adam’s jaw was clenched shut, his teeth clearly gritted to make a point at how stressed he was about me not spending time with my family. 

 

My nostrils started flaring in distaste, I didn’t want to talk about this with them. Lance would be fine, but he didn’t notice how clouded my head has been lately. The only people who really read me were my dads, and seemed like I wasn’t good enough at masking my stressfulness with them. 

 

“Fine.” I fell onto my love-nest with a grunt, crossing my arms. 

 

My phone beeped, and I knew it was Lance asking if I might need any assistance, but I rejected the beeping knowing full well that my dads would guard my phone until I told them what was up. 

 

Do I tell them the truth? 

 

“College acceptance letters have been sent..I’m just nervous and been using my spare time focusing on other things…” I sputtered out quickly, hoping I sounded at least a smidge believable. 

 

What I told them was a semi truth. My mind had been curled around the college situation, but my mind had been wrapped around this ever since I had to send out my college apps, so to say that I was nervous about getting in was as believable as it could ever be. 

 

The air around us lifted, the stuffiness of the previous lovemaking, gone. Gone, hopefully without a trace. Well, all for the used condom taking leisure in my trash. 

My breath caught in my throat for two whole seconds, but what felt like a lifetime. Time sped regularly again when I caught Shiro and Adam’s faces slackening with relief, “Was that all?” Shiro lifted the corner of his lip, ruffling my hair. 

 

Warmth spread through my chest at the familiar gesture of his hand in my hair, it had been awhile since he’d done that. Who’d knew that I had missed him as much as Adam did? Anywho, it was good to have him here again. 

 

He was still wearing his captain uniform, probably just walked through the door from work. “Yeah, that was..” I let out a short, sharp laugh. 

 

“Keith, you’re gonna get in. Don’t let your mind run on the thought that you’re not getting in. Your letter..” Adam’s eyes shined, “It was amazing, so well-written and tear-jerking. If it doesn’t tug on anyone’s heartstrings, then that’s not a school worth getting into. You hear?” 

 

Adam took his turn at ruffling my hair once Shiro was done. They shared a quiet smile with each other, and it calmed my thundering heart and melted the hard lump in my throat knowing they wouldn’t worry about me for the time being. 

 

“So..pizza?” I asked, licking my lips. My stomach made a gurgle at the same time as Adam and Shiro headed for my door, laughing in unison at my hungry state. 

 

“Boy, Lance really worked up an appetite on you, huh?” 

 

“Sex really does make you hungry, right hon?”

 

Not one single fucking day could I go without them ruining my life. “Come on!” I pleaded helplessly at them, stomping my path passed them while making my way down the stairs. 

 

“I heard exercise and sex.” Lance chirped teasingly through a mouthful of pepperoni pizza. 

 

Did he even consider that Ruby was in the same room? “What is sex?” She squeaked out in a high frequent scream. 

 

Lance grabbed another slice of pizza, then conquered my hand to drag me out of the kitchen. In the process of our escape, we met with two dads groaning and throwing their heads back once Ruby landed that bomb of a too soon question. 

 

“That’s payback! No one screws with Lancey-Lance and his boyfriend!” 

 

“Except for his boyfriend.” I proudly murmured under my breath, only to receive a cute chuckle from my devious, perfect boyfriend. 

 

We made it back up into my room. Lance was looking snazzy in green for a change, bringing out the speckles of sea-side green in his eyes. I couldn't look away. “Thanks for getting those two lugs back.” I grabbed the back of his neck to pull him in for a peck. 

But wounded up peppering him in loving, doting kisses all over his gorgeous face. “Keith. Keith. Kitten!!” He squealed, chuckling as I tickled him with my greedy mouth. 

 

“I’m sorry, I can’t ever get enough of you, babe. And it’s been too long. We’ve only talked through the cord, at school or when we study in the library. I need this.” I made a fat pout at him, but he quickly kissed it away turning it into a blossomed smile instead. 

 

We started cleaning what our sexual tornado had wrecked. A smack on the ass here, a pull of my arm there, and in minutes we were back to what caused this mess. “Lance..we need to clean up. Shiro’s gonna be furious with me.” 

 

“Oh, and he’s not already furious with me for waking up the curious demon inside Ruby?”

 

I laughed, pretty hard too, snot was almost flying out of my nose. Such wrecks, him and I. “He’ll have your head for that one, babe.” My lips pressed lightly on his temple, the scent of nauseating _Enchanted Rose_ wiped off the map. His hair smelled alluring, it smelled so deliciously good. 

 

“You smell like a fruit cocktail, Lance.” I swallowed a hungry moan, not ready to escalate our tidying-trying to tidy-game. 

 

Lance smirked. That devilish one, the one that always had me like a puppet and he was my puppet master ready to play with my strings. “Once I moved back home, all of my products were ready to take a nice lathering trip in my perfect bouncing locks. You like?” 

 

“I _love._ ” I tackled him on the floor with my mouth. 

 

“Mmmf!” He muffled out through a clamped surprise.

 

“Mmm.” I moaned back into his mouth with my tongue. 

 

I couldn’t get enough. Never enough with him, really. All my mind was wrapped around lately was Lance or- “Hey…” Lance pulled away from my needy lips, caressing a warm hand on the curve of my cheek. His eyes bore into me, digging deep into the depths of my unsteady soul. 

 

“What’s up with you?” His voice was low, in a quiet soothing whisper, gathering my strength to tell him what was actually up with me. 

 

My body quivered in his hold. We were strewn on the now clean floor, my legs draped over his lap, his arm wrapped around my shoulder, tugging me close to him. Keeping me in his warmth, his safety. 

 

Would I lie to Lance? 

 

I was balanced on a pedestal, thinking hard whether I should come clean about my thoughts or just keep on barricading him with my lips, with my body. Surely within time he’ll let my weirdness-usually always awkward but okay-slide with him and we could continue this nice attempt at wooing my boyfriend while we still had time together. 

 

“Keith, you’re taking your time thinking up an answer. I know something’s up. You’re so smart, usually your quick mindedness has you already giving me an answer.” Lance flicked my nose, bringing me back to my room. 

 

A whole track team of runners tingled along my spine when I made audacious shiver. Was it cold in here? Or was I too scared to tell Lance what was really on my mind? Not that it was anything bothersome, to him. To me, on the other hand, it was well bothersome. More so than not getting into my dream college.

 

All I wanted was not to bother him with my problems. I’d done that enough already. My anxiety. The nightmares. He didn’t need this too piled up with my problems, he had his troubles too to work with. Being back with his family after being shunned for a whole month. He was finally on speaking terms with his parents, fixing up the broken relationship he had with them ever since he was a little boy. 

 

They loved his singing at the talent show. All his mama ever talked about in the car ride home from the talent show was how pure Lance’s voice sounded when he sang. It was odd, but also refreshing at the same time knowing that they had finally accepted him. At least, accepted some of him. Us as a pair was still very new and would take some time getting used to, therefore why we haven’t been able to meet up lately unless it were for school or shooting zombie at the arcade. And then some, like making out in the Jurassic Park jeep. 

 

Still hesitating, I pulled on my Nike sweater, feeling my throat closing up if I wanted to drag out any lies. Instead, I cleared my throat, looking around for my glass of water, but it was nowhere to be found. Lance could read my distressed state, cradling me in my arms while nudging his face in the dip of my neck causing the tips of his fruit punch smelling hair to tickle me. 

 

“Sto-hap it, babe. Nothing’s wrong..” I rested my chin on the crown of his head, breathing out through my nose, “per say..” I decided. 

 

“Then tell me. You know you can tell me anything. I know Shiro and Adam asked you something, they looked worried. Worried about you.” 

 

“Yeah.” I breathed, “They were. But, I told them too that it wasn’t as bad as they thought. I’m not having nightmares anymore. My anxiety…” I clenched my jaw once, pursing my lips to the side, “it’s getting better. I did manage to sing in front of the school too without a fuss, unlike someone in this room.” 

 

“Shut up, we’re talking about you now, we can talk about me any other time.” He fluttered those long-ass eyelashes on my neck. 

My chin was still rested on his head, I didn’t want to look him in those deep ocean eyes, knowing they’ll suck me in and drown me in the far depths of the undiscovered pockets of the sea. “It’s nothing Lance.” I kissed him. Right in the center of his mop of hair, where it swirled from the middle of his head. He hummed delightfully in reply, then drastically pulled back. 

 

“Liar!” 

 

“Am not!”

 

“Liar, liar pants on fucking fire. Except when I wear those pants, I look fucking bomb in them, lighting the place up with how hot I am in them.” 

 

Cowering in despair, I pulled up to my feet to boot up my computer. No use dragging him into this, even I wasn’t sure about what I saw. If I told him what was on my mind, he’ll pester me with the deets until we got to the bottom of this unidentified mystery. 

 

Two arms snaked around my waist. “Kitten.” Lance purred in my ear, stealing a nibble while he could. 

 

“Lance…” I tilted my head back catching his forehead, “It’s nothing, just let it go, will ya?” 

 

A nice tingling warmth stamped onto the back of my neck, “Why you always lying…” Lance started singing. 

 

He started singing the most annoying song known to man. “You always lying..” He continued, shaking his hips voraciously side to side. 

 

“Noooo...please, anything but that song.” I whined, unable to repress any laughter. It all came tumbling out like confetti. 

 

My insides were aching by the laughing, but Lance wouldn’t shut up. Even when Adam screamed for Lance to stop singing that damn annoying song, he kept at it, bugging me, picking at me with his nosy index finger to my cheek until I gave in. 

 

“You always lying...stop _fucking_ lying!!” He kept on singing happily, his face one of aggravation though. 

 

The most amusing thing out of this was that the song didn’t sound half bad while he sang it, and it made me want him to sing to me, in the hopes that it cleared away some of that thick fog taking over my mind. 

 

“Fine…” I gave in. Easy as it was. He had that effect on me, alright. 

 

“Goodie.” Lance clapped rapidly as he sat down on my bed, me in my computer chair, swiveling around till we met eyes, and lips. 

 

Telling him what I told my dads wouldn’t cut it. He’d know I was lying the instant the words fell out of my mouth. I took a deep breath in, the stuffiness of the room not stinking up the sex we had earlier. Still on that pedestal, sensing an uneasy tilt of the world, I said, “I think I saw my mother at the talent show.” 

 

“What?” Lance’s hands were instantly in mine, his fingers lacing effortlessly till the warmth from his fingers flowed into me. 

 

I nodded, looking down at my carpet, there was a black stain in it. “Yeah. I don’t know if I really saw her, or if my mind decided it would be fun to play games with me right then and there, but-” 

 

“If it really was her…” Lance resonated, trying to calculate my thoughts, furrowing his thin brown brows in deep thought. 

 

“I don’t think it was her, Lance. Okay, I’ve just- that’s why my dads were so worried about me. I’ve been in this weird funk lately, trying to run away from my thoughts. Cause if it was her, and she wants to-” I bit my lower lip. Just thinking about meeting her again, seeing her face to face after so many years. After what she did to me. What I did to her. 

 

“I’ll protect you from her, Keith. Don’t worry, kay. You won’t dwell too much on it from now on, right?” Lance pulled me out of my chair, opening the blanket for the two of us to nuzzle into. 

 

His lips were always a drug, his sighs of relief always the cure-all to my wandering, rickety thoughts. “Yeah, I promise.” I said, sliding my cheek against his so that our lips could meet in a desperate kiss of security. Of confirmation and stability. 

 

Because that’s what Lance was to me, my stability when the pedestal threatened to tip over at last. 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and Comments are always nice ^_^


End file.
